As black as night
by Butterflied1990
Summary: Melinda Gordon encounters a spirit intent on making her life hell and when she discoveres why the problem only becomes worse. Will Jim be able to save her this time? Jim/Mel fluff pretty much in every chapter lol. Read and enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Melinda Gordon stood in the basement of her shop, 'Same as it never was' unpacking boxes of unwanted 'stuff' that countless random people had brought in or donated to the store

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Ghost Whisperer or any of the characters in it this story is written purely for entertainment purposes and will be removed on request. The story line is completely made up and no copy write infringement was intended when writing this story.

Please read and review this story, reviews are fantastic to read and I always appreciate the thoughts of others. I hope you enjoy this story, I have an idea of where I want to take it but ideas from readers are always welcome. This is my first Ghost Whisperer fic so please enjoy.

This document was not proof read so any mistakes are by me, sorry if there are a lot.

Chapter 1: A Ghostly encounter

Melinda Gordon stood in the basement of her shop, 'Same as it never was' unpacking boxes of unwanted 'stuff' that countless random people had brought in or donated to the store. Some of the items had come from dead relatives and other items were simply things that the owners felt cluttered their houses, but to Melinda they were antiques and she could sell them.

There was something about antiques that always fascinated Melinda. Perhaps it was because they often belonged to someone who had passed away and so in some ways they brought her closer to the spirit world, helping her get a glimpse into the past and into the lives of some of the ghosts she meets.

Working in an antique store kind of makes sense with Melinda having the ability she does. She often meets ghosts who are attached to the objects in some way, or attached to the people who bring in the objects and this allows her to help more spirits move into the light. Even though it makes her life that little bit more hectic she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Melinda had been unpacking boxes for a while and decided that it was time to resurface and see how Delia was doing on the shop floor. For a little antique store they did get a lot of customers, some regulars and some just random passers by.

"Hey Delia, how are things going up here?" Mel said cheerfully as she entered the main shop from the basement.

"Well you see the store now, empty, that's how it's been all day." Delia replied, she had an expression on her face that showed both disappointment and boredom.

Looking around the store Melinda could see that they had indeed not sold a single item, in fact nothing had been touched since she had opened up.

"How odd, I know antiques aren't on most people's list of things to buy, but no customers all day!" The short brunette said inquiringly.

"It was like they were been scared away by something, I saw a few people park cars then suddenly drive off again and there was this one woman who started to open the door to the shop then ran away. It was like she had just seen a g-." Delia didn't finish her sentence and turned to Mel. She didn't even ask her if there was a ghost present, the expression on her face said it all.

Mel walked toward the door, her wavy, brown hair flowing behind her, her hazel eyes fixed on the figure that she saw outside of the window.

"Mel, do we have a ghost?" Delia asked, although she wasn't over enthusiastic about the whole spirit thing she liked to be clued in.

"Hmmmm I think so but he's outside." Mel replied, she was obviously concentrating on the ghost as she sounded pretty distracted. Delia knew that she would have to leave her to it for now and dig for details later so she headed to the basement to finish what Melinda started earlier.

Now outside of the shop Melinda was face to face with the spirit, nothing was between them anymore and Melinda began to feel dizzy as the spirits energy was affecting her.

"Who are you?" Melinda asked holding her head, she wasn't feeling too good.

The spirit didn't even acknowledge that he had heard Melinda's words, instead he stared at her, his eyes fixed causing a piercing pain to form in her temple but she had to find out who this man was and why he wanted to scare people away from her store.

"Listen to me I know you can hear me, who are you?" Melinda said, her voice now raised slightly and people were beginning to notice that Melinda was 'talking to herself', or so they thought.

This time the ghost came straight for Melinda, his dark eyes still fixated on hers. Suddenly a wave of dizziness swept over her and she fell to the floor. When she looked up the ghost was gone and there was a small crowd of people staring in her direction.

"Are you OK Miss?" A small, elderly looking woman in a pink cardigan asked.

"Mmmm, just a little dizzy that's all. Thanks for asking though." Melinda replied, still feeling a little dazed. That spirit was a powerful one she knew that.

"OK well let me help you up." The woman said offering an arm to Melinda who was still slumped against the wall of her shop.

"Thank you." Melinda smiled as she took the woman's hand and slowly got to her feet.

"I don't know what came over me." Mel lied.

"It's all this work you people do, always so stressed. At your age I didn't have a care in the world. Take a break." The elderly woman said.

"I think you might be right there, my husband always tells me I'm working to hard." Melinda replied politely.

"Well I need to be going now, I'm off to visit my grandson. It was nice meeting you…"

"Melinda." She said as the woman began to walk down the street.

"Joyce." The woman called back as she walked on her way.

Soon after Melinda made her way back into the store and leant on the counter. She could hear Delia busy unpacking boxes in the basement but all she could think about was going home and taking a long relaxing bath.

"Delia, do you fancy closing early today." Melinda called down the stairs to her friend.

"Sure I'll come up now. Did it go OK with the ghost then?" Delia asked.

"Well not really, he seemed angry about something." Mel replied.

Delia now at the top of the stairs asked, "Oh, did you not find out his name or anything then?"

"No, nothing. All I know is that he has piercing black eyes and the most powerful energy I have felt on any spirit." Mel finished trying not to sound too fazed about the ghost.

Delia now looked concerned for her friend, "Mel are you OK, did it hurt you."

"No, no just made me a little dizzy and light headed but I'm fine, honestly." Mel replied brushing off Delia's comment.

"OK well you go home and get some rest, I'll lock up and see you tomorrow." Delia said, smiling. It was the least she could do for her friend, lord know she had given her countless days off when Ned needed to be taken to the doctors and various other places.

"If you're sure."

"Of course I am, now go before I throw you out the door," Delia joked.

"Ok, thanks again." Melinda said as she left the shop.

"No problem."

Melinda rifled through her black, woollen bag to retrieve her car keys from the inner depths. She had so much stuff in her bag that she didn't need like empty boxes of gum and old dry cleaning receipts. "_I really need to clean out this bag" _She thought to herself.

After several minutes of searching she eventually found her keys and unlocked her car door. She climbed into her red 4x4 placed her bag in the passenger seat and the keys in the ignition. Once she was all belted up and settled she started the engine and began the 10 minute drive home where she could soak in a long, relaxing bath and wait for her husband to return home from work.


	2. Chapter 2 An unexpected dream

Thank you to everyone that has read so far

Thank you to everyone that has read so far. Please continue to do so and reviews are always appreciated too. Enjoy 

Chapter 2: An unexpected dream

The Gordon house was remarkably quiet when Melinda arrived home. Jim obviously hadn't finished his shift yet and probably wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. Heading into the living room Melinda removed her long, red coat and placed it along with her bag on the arm chair to her right.

She headed up stairs to the bathroom and turned on the taps. After a strange day Melinda needed some time to soak in a nice hot bubble bath and reflect. She added some aromatherapy lotion to her bath then left it to run whilst she collected a towel from the towel rack and retrieved her nightdress and dressing gown from her and Jim's bedroom.

10 minutes later she returned to the bathroom with her towel and nightwear. The bath was now full so she undressed and climbed in. Just as soon as Melinda had laid her head down in the bath she started to feel drowsy.

"Whoa I didn't even realise I was tired." Melinda said quietly to herself. Adjusting her position slightly in an attempt to prevent herself from drifting off to sleep but she just couldn't fight the feeling of fatigue and before she knew it Melinda was asleep in the bathtub.

"Hello, Hello is anybody there." Mel called.

She was stood in what looked liked the square in Grandview but all the shops were different. No village Java and in place of her antiques shop stood what looked like a small house.

The street was empty, no cars, no people there weren't even any birds. It was like everyone had vanished into thin air. As Melinda walked down the street she realised that the usual sound of her heels clanking on the pavement was none existent. When she looked down she noticed that she was no longer wearing any shoes and instead of facing her shop she was inside it. Watching a fight between what appeared to be a young couple. However what was more strange was the woman looked a lot like Melinda.

"Jean I swear you are the vain of my life, I want you out of my house TODAY!" The man screamed.

"I will not leave, this is my house too." Jean yelled back.

"Don't make me throw you out!" The man yelled as he lunged for Jean's collar.

"Tom get away from me" Jean shouted, fear in her eyes she picked up an ornament from the coffee table and hit Tom over the head.

Unfortunately for Jean this only stunned him for a few seconds and he came bounding toward her again, this time his dark eyes raging with anger.

"You hit me are you going to kill me like you did your parents, you wont get any money out of me Jean." He yelled as her moved everything in her path to reach her.

"Get away from me!" This time Jean hit him she hit him hard and he fell to the floor slowly dying but all the time his eyes filled with anger glaring up at the woman who had just caused his demise.

Melinda awoke with her start and jerked forward. Could the man she had just seen die in her dream be the ghost haunting her store? His eyes were just as dark and twisted and as they were the only part of the ghost she saw she remembered them well. The thoughts darted around in her mind when she realised that she was a little chilly. The bath water was no longer hot and steamy, in fact it was pretty cold which made Melinda realise that she had been in the bath longer than anticipated and Jim would be arriving home soon.

Shivering a little she climbed out of the bath, dried herself off with the towel, the ends of her hair first then the rest of her body. The towel was then wrapped around her head to prevent water from dripping on her newly dried skin. She then pulled on her white, silk nightdress. Slipped her pale blue dressing gown and walked down the stairs to settle on the sofa.

She hadn't been down long when Jim arrived home from work. She loved how sexy he looked in his paramedic uniform, what woman didn't want a man who saved lives as a husband.

"Mel I'm home," he called from the entrance hall.

"In here Jim." Melinda called back sounding pleased to see him.

Following the sound of his wife's voice Jim made his way to the sitting room and got comfy next to her on the sofa.

"So how was work today?" Melinda asked.

"The usual, drove an ambulance, saved a few lives. How about you?" Jim replied knowing that her day was probably going to have been much more eventful than his. After all not many people could see the dead and Mel saw them nearly every day.

"Oh you know, went to the shop, no customers and a creepy spirit who's eyes were the only part of him I could make out." Mel replied as if this kind of thing was normal and for them it was.

"Well you know that he is a man too." Jim joked trying to make light of the situation.

"Very funny Jim, this ones a weird one though." Mel replied giving Jim a slight tap on the chest for his comment.

"OK sorry, what's 'weird' about this one?" Jim asked, this time sounding a little more serious.

"Well when I came home I took a bath-"

"Which explains the robe." Jim interrupted.

"Yes Jim. Anyway while I was in the bath I fell asleep and had a kind of vision thingy except it was of the past and there was this man screaming at his wife. I think she killed her parents and he found out so he wanted her to move out. When she refused her went for her and she hit him, knocked him dead." Melinda finished.

"Well that is interesting, how is this relevant?" Jim asked.

"I think that the man murdered in that house is the man scaring people away from my shop. His wife, his murderer looked a lot like me." She finished her voice showing inquiry and fear.

"OK honey we can't do anything about this now. In the morning I will ask my friend at the station to check murders like this one to see if anything comes up. In the mean time I think we should go to bed. You need to sleep you know." Jim said placing a kiss on Melinda's forehead.

"You're right Jim I do feel a little tired." She replied.

At that the pair went up stairs to bed, Mel first and Jim following close behind her. Mel went into the bedroom and got under the duvet, her head against the pillow whilst Jim went in the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the toilet.

Soon he joined her noticing that she had already fallen asleep in the time he had been in the bathroom. Jim the placed his arms around Melinda's body and listened to her soft breathing as her also fell into a sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 Doctors orders

Thanks for all the comments made so far they are much appreciated, please keep reading

Thanks for all the comments made so far they are much appreciated and thank you to everyone who had read so far, please keep reading! I love to write them and it's nice to know that people enjoy reading too 

Chapter 3: Doctors orders

It can't have been any later than 3am when Melinda awoke with a start, her breathing shallow and heavy, her body shaking and weak. Noticing his wife's irregular breathing Jim also awoke promptly immediately trying to calm her down and regulate her breathing.

He turned Melinda so she was facing him and held her close to him so she could feel the movement of his chest as he breathed.

"Mel it's OK just calm down, slow breaths." He said as he inhaled and exhaled, mimicking the actions he wanted Melinda to perform.

At first there was no change and he could see fear showing in her eyes, he felt her shaking and knew that he needed to clam her down.

"C'mon Mel just breathe, slow, deep breaths, breathe with me." He said. This time calling out, "Breathe in……….. and out………….in……… and out."

After a few of these sessions her breathing returned to normal and she retired into Jim's arms, her head resting on his chest, her body still shaking. Jim caressed Melinda's head, stroking her hair away from her face which much affection. His touch so gentle, so much love shown in his actions, and in his eyes.

"You Ok, was it another dream?" Jim asked now Melinda seemed calmer.

She shook her head. "I don't think so" she whispered, still resting her head on Jim's body.

He was starting to get worried now, if it wasn't a dream and she was still shaking she might actually be ill and he started to think about possible illnesses that she could have. A few moments passed the pair sat up in bed, in complete yet bliss silence. Then Melinda spoke breaking the peace.

"Jim, I think I'm going to be sick."

"Alright honey, lets get you to the bathroom." Jim stated lovingly, showing concern in his voice.

He placed his arm around her waist and walked her to the bathroom all the time she seemed to rely on him to keep her from collapsing on the floor.

For Melinda the usual 30 second trip to the bathroom seemed to take forever, she felt so weak and what scared her most is that she didn't know why. She couldn't blame it on the usual ghostly culprits because, as far as she was aware, they weren't involved and yet she felt as though someone was screaming inside her head and dancing around in her stomach. She couldn't stop shivering but she felt overly warm and she was sure if Jim hadn't been here she'd be on a heap somewhere choking on her own vomit. _Nice eh._

Being the wonderful husband that he was Jim embraced all aspects of his wedding vows, he said in sickness and in health so here he was. Whilst Melinda lay in her nightdress, head over the toilet bowel, puking her guts out he sat right beside her, holding her hair away from her face and rubbing her back gently to try and comfort his wife. He knew that she hated being ill and it usually made her upset. Then again being ill made most people upset.

"It's Ok Mel, I'm here don't worry." Jim said trying to comfort Melinda. She had been leaning over the toilet for a while but hadn't been sick since the first few times.

"Jim, thank you." Mel replied.

Melinda moved away from the toilet now and leant against the wall, she didn't feel up to walking so shuffling to the nearest hard surface was her best option. Jim went downstairs to fetch some water for Mel, a thermometer and a bowel in case she felt sick again. _Anything over 101 and I'm calling the doctor_ he thought to himself. If it was up to him the doctor would have been called half an hour ago but he wasn't the sick one and the last thing he needed was to upset Melinda.

Jim walked into the bedroom and placed the glass of water and thermometer on the cabinet beside the bed and the bowel on the floor. Next he walked to the bathroom where Melinda was, hoping that she hadn't felt sick again whilst he was gone.

"Ok I'm going to take you back to the bedroom it's more comfortable in there." He said as he bent down to pick her up.

"I can walk Jim, it's OK." Melinda insisted.

"OK but let me help you up." This wasn't so much of a request but an insistence as he allowed Melinda to put an arm around his shoulder as he put a supporting arm around her waist.

As soon as she got to her feel the weakened ghost whisperer buckled and would have fallen to the floor if Jim hadn't been holding her up.

"Right that's it, I'm carrying you to the bedroom and I'm calling the doctor." He said as he lifted her in his arms and when she didn't even attempt to protest he realised she knew that she was pretty sick.

Once Melinda was comfortably on the bed he placed a thermometer in her mouth and called the doctor whilst he waited for the beeping. It was one of those high-tech thermometers that beeped when they were done and saved the last temperature reading.

"Hi doctor Eastman, it's Jim…."

'_Oh hi Jim'_

"Sorry to call you so early it's just Mel's really sick."

'_Right, what's wrong with her?_

"Not sure. She woke up having problems breathing and shaking. I'm pretty sure she's got a temperature and she's been vomiting. She can't even hold herself up."

'_OK Jim I'll be there right away just sit with her.'_

"Thanks, I'll leave the door unlocked just come straight up."

'_No problem, see you soon.'_

"Bye Doc."

Jim put the phone back down on the receiver and sat on the bed next to where Mel was laid. He checked the thermometer and his suspicions were right she had a fever of 102o well 102.75 o to be exact but this was still higher than it should be.

Melinda took a sip of her water, her hand shaking as she brought the glass to her lips.

"This… is ridiculous, I'm never ill." She said shakily.

"There's a first time for everything, although I couldn't say what was wrong with you." Jim replied.

"The doctor will be here soon."

"I can't believe you called him at 4:30 in the morning the poor man was probably trying to sleep." Mel replied, she still looked dreadful but she was beginning to regain her sense of humour.

"You sound a little better. It's typical I call the doctor, tell him you're really ill and you get better." Jim joked.

"No it's just I can concentrate on talking now my dizziness has gone down a bit, it's probably because I'm lying in a bed with a hot water bottle and a glass of water that my wonderful husband got me." Mel replied.

"That's sweet but you still look pale and the doctor's still coming, in fact he should be here very soon." Jim said.

Eventually Doctor Eastman arrived and did a few tests. He took some blood too just in case and then gave Mel some pain killers for her headaches.

"Plenty of rest is what you need. You probably just have one of those bugs that's going around but I've taken some bloods just in case." He said, handing the pills to her.

Jim then walked with him down the stairs to see him to the door and thank him for coming.

"So, do you know what it is?" Jim asked concerned as he wasn't sure the doctor had been completely truthful with his wife.

"No, I have given her some pills to take for the pain and they should stop the nausea too but if she keeps been sick take her straight to the hospital. Make sure she stays in bed. No work tomorrow and I'll let you know if the bloods come up with anything." The doctor replied.

"Ok thank you for coming around so late." Jim said appreciatively.

"It's no problem at all." The doctor replied.

He then got into his car and drove away, probably home to bed. Once the doctor had gone Jim went back up the stairs to get back into bed too, he would probably have to take the day off tomorrow and call in sick for Melinda otherwise she would try and go to work.

"Night Honey." Mel whispered.

"Night Mel, you need to get some rest. Doctor's orders." Jim replied. The pair smiled and curled up in bed. Little did they know that there were a pair of dark eyes watching them from the mirror.


	4. Chapter 4 Taking a turn

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4: Taking a turn

The next morning Melinda awoke to find that she had little memory of last nights' events. She was aware that the doctor had been over and she knew that she'd been sick but that's about it. Once she had come to Melinda rolled over to find that Jim was no longer lying next to her but when she listened carefully she could hear him downstairs clanking about in the kitchen. He was probably making breakfast or cleaning up the plates from dinner.

Feeling slightly better than she had done last night she slowly propped herself up and stepped out of bed. Her head was still spinning slightly but she managed to stay steady on her feet and headed to her wardrobe where she picked out an outfit for the day. As she began to get dressed she had a strange feeling that she was been watched but when she glanced around the room no one was there. She continued to get dressed pulling on a pair of blue jeans and a light blue dress top all the while feeling uneasy. She was sure that someone was watching her, that someone else was in the room but she could see nothing.

"Hello is anyone here?" She called hoping that if there was anyone around she could draw them out. She waited a while but nothing happened.

"Hello, I know you're watching me." She said again, still scanning all corners of the room for a presence. This time she did see a flicker in the mirror.

Taking a deep breath she slowly made her way over to the mirror on the wall, stopping right in front of it. Staring back at her was a familiar pair of dark eyes. They didn't blink; they didn't even move they just sent chills down her spine. Melinda had been staring into the mirror for a few minutes then the eyes disappeared and she was left staring at her own face except she looked pale, her face was battered and bruised and her eyes were no longer a warm brown colour, but black. They looked empty and blank, this couldn't be her reflection. She was about to scream for her husband when the mirror cracked and, although the image distorted, her reflection appeared as she expected it to be.

A wave of nausea swept over Mel as it had done last night and she ran to the bathroom, using every bit of her energy to prevent herself throwing up over the hall carpet. Once she reached the toilet she began violently vomiting again, she felt so ill and tears began to stream down her face.

Downstairs Melinda's frantic footsteps and retching noises had been heard from the kitchen and Jim immediately dropped what he was doing to check on his wife. He turned off the stove, which he was using to make homemade pancakes and headed straight to the bottom of the stairs.

"Mel you Ok." He called sounding worried.

When he didn't receive an answer Jim bounded up the stairs and opened the bathroom door. There he found he curled up, head slumped over the toilet bowl as she had been last night. Quickly he sat down next to her and put an arm around her back hoping to offer some comfort.

"Looks like you wont be wanting any pancakes then." He said trying to make Mel laugh but he soon realised she wasn't in a joking mood.

"Hey, it's Ok don't cry." He said as he noticed the tears falling down her face.

"Ji…m I…"She stopped talking as the vomit moved up into her mouth then threw up once more.

"Ok Mel I need to take you to the hospital. The doctor said if you were still throwing up I had to take you." Jim said looking scared for his wife. He knew that she was sick and probably dehydrated from all the fluids she'd lost and her safety was important to him.

"N..oo I'm fi...ne" Melinda tried her best to convince her husband that she didn't need to go to hospital but her efforts came up short as she threw up one last time.

Once she stopped vomiting the hunky paramedic scooped Melinda into his arms and carried her to the car. He laid her across the back seats fastening the middle belt around her so she didn't slide off then he shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat. He had barley belted up when he put his foot on the gas and sped toward the hospital.

At this moment in time the speed limit wasn't on his mind, all he wanted to do was get his wife to the hospital. All the way there he checked the rear view mirror to determine if she was still conscious and breathing. He had never been as worried about anyone in his life.

It was usually a 20 minute journey from their house to the nearest hospital but Jim had managed to get there in half the time. Pulling into the parking lot he quickly undid his seat belt and dived out of the car. Next he opened the door to the back of the car and took Melinda in his arms. He then closed the car door with his foot and ran into A&E. By this time Melinda was barely conscious and pretty dehydrated. Whilst she was in the car she had been sick again and had vomit down her top.

"Can someone help me, my wife's really sick?" Jim called as he bounded further into the emergency department.

"Ok I need a bed over here now." A man shouted, he was wearing a white lab coat so Jim assumed that he was a doctor.

"She keeps been sick, I think she's dehydrated, I called the doctor last night and he gave her some pills to settle her stomach but it hasn't worked." Jim said quickly still holding his wife in his arms. It was a wonder that anybody had a clue what he was talking about.

Another man arrived pushing a bed and Jim placed Melinda onto it carefully. She was clearly delirious now and refused to keep still. As the bed was wheeled away Jim was asked to wait outside until they had stabilised her. There were a few seats available to sit on but the doting husband refused to sit down and just paced backwards and forwards at quite a formidable pace.

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Melinda could now see the bright lights of the hospital room above her. There were several people bustling around muttering things to each other, all with serious looks on their faces but she had no idea what they were saying. Everything sounded muffled to her as her head hurt so much her ears felt blocked.

"We need to get an Intravenous drip into her straight away she's clearly dehydrated and there's no way we can get her to ingest the fluids orally." One man said as he looked at a nurse to bring over the correct equipment for the drip to be put into her arm.

"Her husband said she's been vomiting a lot but not replacing the fluids and the doctor was called last night. He took some bloods and gave her some anti-nausea medication but it didn't work." Another doctor said.

"Ok we need to check her records and track down her doctor, see if we can't hurry the blood tests up and see what they come up with." The first man replied, now sliding the drip into the middle of Melinda's arm. She did struggle a little but a female doctor kept her still.

Next the doctors hooked her up to a heart monitor and more bloods were taken as precaution. Melinda could here the beeping of the machine and she felt the power of speech returning to her.

"Jim…. Where's Jim." She asked desperately, there was no sign of him in the room and all she wanted was him to be with her.

"It's alright Mrs Gordon the nurse behind me will go and get your husband, just relax." A male doctor said in a rather patronising manner.

She hadn't noticed this one in the room before but he seemed rather old and from the way people were tip toeing around him she assumed he was the boss or some high up doctor man.

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"Mr Clancy, your wife is asking for you." The nurse said smiling and gesturing toward Melinda's room.

"Thank you." Jim replied as he hurriedly entered the room.

"Hey Mel, how you feeling?" He said his voice a little shaky from worry.

"Not that great, better now you're here though." She replied whilst holding his hand tightly not wanting to ever let him go.

"The doctors have taken some blood and are running some tests. They're trying to get hold of Dr. Eastman to see what pills he gave you last night but you're in the right place now." Jim said trying to put Mel at ease.

"They don't know what's wrong with me do they?" Mel asked her husband, looking deeply into his eyes.

"No not yet, but they will." He said insistently, more to convince himself than Melinda.

"I saw something at the house, before I was sick again." Mel said seriously.

"What was it." Jim asked.

"Those eyes again, then my face except it wasn't me because I was pale and scarred then the mirror broke." Mel finished. Even though she was clearly unwell the thoughts of the ghost still ruled her mind.

"You don't think it's the ghost causing this do you." Jim asked sincerely.

"No, if it was him I wouldn't still be ill now; they can only affect me if there near me. This one doesn't do nausea anyway he does dizziness and weird visions." Melinda answered, quite sure that the ghost was not the cause of her hospital admittance.

"Ok then you don't need to be thinking of the ghost now, you need to rest and concentrate on getting better. I'm going to call Delia and let her know what's happened." Jim said.

He kissed his wife lovingly on the forehead and went to make a call leaving Melinda with the doctors to get some much needed rest.


	5. Chapter 5 The discovery

Thank you for reading so far

Sorry I took a while to upload. I had to revise for a dreaded biology exam but thankfully it is over now. Woop A levels are now finished!! Thank you for reading so far. It's really great to see that people are actually taking the time to read my drabble! The reviews are fantastic and are really encouraging me to keep writing because usually I write chapter by chapter so I have no idea how I'm going to continue. I hope you like this one.

Chapter 5: The discovery

It had been a few hours since Jim had frantically rushed Mel to the hospital and now she was peacefully sleeping with him at her bedside.

Delia had stopped by with a change of clothes for Jim and a bag for Melinda, she didn't stay long though because Mel was sleeping and Ned needed driving home; plus no one was watching the store.

Jim knew that he really needed to go home and get some rest but he couldn't leave Mel not knowing what was wrong with her. He hoped that it was something simple and that she would be allowed home the next morning but you never know really.

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The room she had been put in wasn't very appealing. It was small and crammed with machines, one to monitor her heart rate, another to check her fluid intake, and a third that monitored her medication. This one wasn't always in use but it was used to pump pain killers into her when she needed them and did it whilst making a hell of a lot of noise.

Melinda was still sleeping when they were joined by a pair of doctors one was male and the other female. The male doctor was around 50 years old. He had short, grey hair and had made no attempt to cover his greys up. He looked very professional and carried a look of experience behind his eyes, which offered comfort to Jim. The female doctor was younger. She looked around 35, was pretty tall for a female and had mid-length blond hair. Her features were hard and stern but her eyes showed warmth.

"Good morning Mr Clancy." The doctor said holding out his hand to Jim.

"Morning," Jim replied shaking the older mans hand.

"Still sleeping I see. Did she sleep well?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, she slept like a log as far as I know. Do you know what's wrong with her yet?" Jim asked hoping that the doctor would be able to give him some information.

"Well I wanted to discuss it with your wife as well. I do need to wake her up now because it's time for her meds too." The male doctor replied sounding professional.

"Ok, that's fine but I warn you she doesn't like been woken up." Jim said smiling slightly.

"Well I think we should let you do the honours then." The tall blond chirped from the back. She had been stood silently for the entire time she had been in the room and probably felt isolated.

"Right, no problem." Jim replied as he went back over to Mel's bed so he could slowly wake her.

She looked so peaceful and although Jim wanted to let her sleep because it was so rare that she actually got a full night sleep he knew that he had to wake her up. They both wanted to know what was wrong with her, and her medication had to be given to her which was important.

"Mel, honey you need to wake up for me." Jim whispered in her ear.

Melinda stirred slightly, exhaled some air loudly but continued to sleep.

"Come on Mel wake up, the doctors are here to see you and you need your medication." Jim persisted.

This time Melinda opened her eyes to see Jim leaning over her bed. She was still sleepy but managed to sit herself up a little.

"Hey… What's going on?" Melinda asked as she saw the two doctors and Jim staring at her.

"The doctors are here to speak with us about what's wrong with you." Jim said as he sensed her worry from the look in her eyes and her tone of voice.

"Alright then because I would really like to get out of here." Mel smiled for the first time since she had been placed in the hospital. The thought of going home made her extremely happy.

Jim took a seat on the end of Melinda's bed and held her hand tightly whilst the doctors sat down in chairs next to the bed. The first to speak was the male doctor, his name was Dr. Henderson.

"Did you sleep well Mrs Gordon?" Dr Henderson asked, trying to start the conversation off on a light note.

"Mmmmm, yeah actually I did, must be all the drugs you're giving me." Melinda replied humorously.

"Good. Well I assume you would like to know what is keeping you here at the moment." The doctor said with a professional but cheerful tone.

"That would be great." Melinda replied, she really did want to go home and she had only been in there for one night.

"Right well we contacted Dr Eastman and retrieved the results of your blood tests. They showed that you have anaemia so I would suggest putting more iron into your diet and I'm going to give you some iron supplements to help you on your way." The doctor said.

"Ok so the cause of her anaemia is iron deficiency?" Jim asked.

"Yes we think that and, your wives bloods also showed that she is pregnant which can cause anaemia." This time the female doctor from behind spoke. She was a specialist gynaecologist.

"What did… you say!" Melinda exclaimed at the words spoken by the doctor.

"I said that you are pregnant Mrs Gordon." The young female repeated what she had just said.

Mel turned to look at Jim who was obviously in shock but was very pleased by the news. He always wanted to have a family with Melinda and now she was carrying his baby. They looked at each other in silence for what felt like minutes, but was only a few seconds, then Jim spoke

"So Mel, we're going to have a baby." Jim said as he squeezed Melinda's hand. She had a smile on her face, Jim could tell that she was a little nervous and perhaps apprehensive, but that was to be expected.

"Yeah, I guess we are." She was now smiling more convincingly as she came to terms with the news.

The doctors stood silently as the couple absorbed the news and congratulated each other then Jim stopped abruptly as he realised something else may be wrong.

"Wait a minute, why did you need to bring a specialist down to tell us that she is pregnant, is something wrong?" Jim asked seriously, he was obviously worried now.

"There isn't anything to be worried about just yet. As you know Melinda has Anaemia which means she needs looking after, especially when it comes to the time of the birth." The female doctor said, her name was Dr. Jenson.

Melinda was looking slightly flustered, she was sitting in the bed listening to people talk about her, her condition, her pregnancy and yet no one was talking **to** her. She realised how all the ghosts must feel when they are trying to talk to loved ones and no one can hear them.

"Hello, I am still here. Can you please talk to me too?" Melinda chirped.

"Oh yes sorry Mrs Gordon. As you and your husband know, you have anaemia. We also noticed that your blood pressure is pretty high which can also cause problems during pregnancy so we need to watch you carefully. I have scheduled a scan for later on today. This will allow me to asses how far along you are and the health of the baby." Dr Jenson finished. She looked at the couple and gave them her best reassuring smile.

"If all goes well and Dr Henderson is satisfied with your general health you should be allowed home this evening."

"Oh that's great." Melinda said joyfully, looking at Jim.

"Yeah it is." He replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Ok well we will be going now, Dr Jenson will come back shortly to take you for a scan and I will see you at 6pm." Dr Henderson said. The two doctors then left the room, leaving the couple alone again.

"Jim you look tired, I can't believe you slept in that chair all night." Melinda said whilst caressing her husbands face.

"Yeah, it's not too bad. I wasn't gonna leave you here alone." He replied quietly.

"Thank you." She whispered in his ear then placed a soft kiss on his lips.

Jim then joined Melinda on the bed and they laid talking whilst they waited for Dr Jenson to return.

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An hour had passed and Melinda had now been taken for her ultra sound. The room was pretty standard really. There was a bed for the patient to lie on. A monitor that showed the image of the baby and another that recorded the foetal heartbeat. There were a few chairs dotted around the room and posters about the stages of pregnancy and precautions to be taken up on the walls.

Jim was holding his wives hand as the doctor moved the camera around her stomach to project the image of a tiny human being growing inside of her. It was pretty amazing to see.

The doctor turned the screen to give the couple a better view whilst she pointed out certain parts of the baby and explained how she could tell how far along Melinda actually was.

"Ok, that there is a tiny hand starting to form, and you can make out the shape of a head and where the feet are beginning to grow too." The doctor said as she pointed on the screen.

"I would say that you are around 8 week's pregnant form the stage of foetal development so unfortunately for you morning sickness will be starting soon." The doctor said giving Melinda a sympathetic look, she was a mother of 2 and morning sickness had not been a pleasant experience for her either time.

As Jim and Melinda stared at the screen in awe she tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"Hey… hey honey what's wrong." Jim asked, wiping a tear off Mel's cheek.

"Nothing I…I'm just happy." She replied smiling at her husband.

"Ah crying, that's a pretty common reaction. I cried when I saw both my children for the first time." Dr Jenson said understandingly.

"Well everything looks good. I will get a picture printed out for you and if everything is Ok with you tonight you'll be able to go home. I will need you to come back and see me in 2 weeks though so I can check your blood pressure again and you must take it easy." The doctor continued.

"No over doing it, no running, no heavy lifting and no exerting yourself in anyway until I see you again and tell you otherwise. Do you understand?" The doctor asked in a caring but stern voice.

"Yes, I do." Melinda replied. She then hopped off the bed, pulled her gown down and sat back in her wheel chair so one of the attendants could push her back to her room.

When she had left Jim stayed behind for a few seconds just to assure the doctor that he would make sure Melinda didn't over do anything. He really wanted to have her back home today.

Jim then returned to Melinda's room where they sat and waited for Dr Henderson's assessment of her condition and whether or not she could go home.


	6. Chapter 6 The riddle

Thank you all for continuing to read my story, I hope you are enjoying it and I am really grateful for the reviews

Thank you all for continuing to read my story, I hope you are enjoying it and I am really grateful for the reviews. I am really sorry that I haven't uploaded in ages but I was on holiday for a few days and really wanted to write something good so it has taken me a while. I am working hard to think of ideas so that I can keep the story moving I hope you enjoy this chapter, please read and review!

Chapter 6: The riddle

2 days later……

Melinda had been allowed home from the hospital that evening and had been relaxing ever since. To be honest if she had been given a choice, she wouldn't be lying in bed with her feet up, having her wonderful husband wait on her hand and foot; she would be working at the shop or cleaning around the house.

"Jim… Jim can I please get out of bed now?" She called down the stairs to her husband who was cooking in the kitchen.

"Mel what part of '_no running, no heavy lifting, no exerting yourself in any way' _are you having trouble understanding." He called back playfully.

"I know, I know but I'm not asking to run a marathon." She called back.

This time Jim didn't reply straight away, he was carrying a tray up the stairs containing a small plate of pancakes and a cup of herbal tea. He emerged through the bedroom door, placed the tray on her lap then sat himself beside her, giving her a quick peck on the lips as his did so.

"Good morning honey, I made you pancakes." Jim said sweetly trying to distract Melinda from moving around.

"I know and they are lovely." She said with her mouth half full. "But I would really like to go for a walk." She smiled fluttering her eyelids at Jim.

She knew that he couldn't resist her puppy dog eyes and often used them as a weapon when she wanted to do something that most husbands would not like their wives doing.

Jim let out a rather large sigh before giving in to Mel's request. "Ok, when you have finished eating and taken a shower we can go for a walk around the square, but I am driving us there." He said lovingly but firmly. He knew that by giving in it was going to be even harder to make her rest but he hated to see his wife upset.

"Thanks Jim." She smiled. She knew that going to the square she would be able to go by the shop, and even though the ghost she saw there scared the hell out of her, she knew that she needed to see him again.

"So have you had any… visitors lately?" Jim asked getting the conversation flowing. He knew that ghosts were a big part of Melinda's life so he always asked about her experiences.

"Mmm one or two popped by to ask for help but when I told them I wasn't allowed to get out of bed they said they'd come back later." She smiled.

"Oh and there was this one old lady that somehow got lost trying to find the light so she ended up here, I had to help her find the right direction which was particularly difficult when I have no idea where the light is." She chucked.

"Sounds interesting." Jim replied with a smile.

"I'm going to take your tray downstairs, will you be ok getting in the shower." Jim said playfully.

"I think I will be just fine Jim." She replied cheekily. "I am pregnant, not blind."

Once Jim was downstairs Melinda collected a change of clothes, a white towel and headed off to the bathroom to take a quick shower. She was looking forward to getting herself out of the house, to feel the fresh air fill her lungs and the glare of the bliss sun to warm her cheeks.

She hadn't been in the shower long when a familiar dizziness swept over her but she quickly regained control of her body so she didn't lose balance. When she was able to focus her vision she was greeted by a familiar figure, an unnerving figure. It was the ghost from outside the shop and this time she saw his full silhouette. He was wearing a pair of navy jeans and a white shirt that was stained with blood in various places however his bloodstained shirt was not the thing that unnerved Melinda. It was his eyes, they were so dark, so empty, so cold and this lack of emotion, this lack of feeling made him unlike any other ghost she had encountered so far. He wasn't someone who was once a living human; he was now a monster, a mesh of pure evil that seemed intent on terrorising Melinda until he achieved his ultimate goal, a goal of which Mel was not yet aware of.

Climbing out of the shower she pulled the towel around her in an attempt to hide her naked body from the unwelcome visitor then she turned to face him and looked directly into the void that was his eyes.

"Who are you, are you Tom?" Melinda asked in a demanding voice. But the ghost didn't answer, instead he moved his mouth to form a smile that sent chills down Melinda's spine.

"Who are you, what do you want?" She asked, this time her voice was raised and showed some desperation.

The ghost just started to laugh at the desperation in Melinda's voice then spoke what seemed to be a riddle.

"_All in good time ,You will see what I want and what I need. The power I seek, will soon be mine. The beginning of darkness, the end of all life. _

"What, what does that mean." She was now shouting panic in her voice but the ghost just disappeared leaving Melinda to ponder the meaning of his riddle. _What power and who's life was going to end._

The shower was still running so Mel reached in to turn it off. The noise of the water falling had probably prevented Jim from hearing her shouting at the ghost and at the moment she was pleased about this. The last thing she needed was Jim fussing over her again, if he heard about this there was no way she would be going anywhere and so she dried herself off and pulled on her clothes ready to go out.

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Mel had finished getting ready and was now sat in the car waiting for Jim to lock up. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, the perfect day to go out for a walk and now that she didn't need to go looking for the ghost she could go and visit Delia at the shop without feeling guilty for having a hidden agenda.

"Jim come on, if you don't hurry up I'm going to have to drive." She called to her husband. Obviously she was joking; she couldn't drive anywhere as he had her keys.

"I won't be a minute." He smiled as he locked the final door then opened the door to Melinda's red jeep. Normally he would have been concerned that she would actually carry out her threat of driving away without him, which is why he had made sure he confiscated her keys, despite her complaints that she felt like a child.

Once he was settled in the driving seat he belted up, checked to see if Melinda had fastened her seat belt then leant in to kiss her on the cheek before returning to the driving position.

"Ok we're ready to go so lets get going." Jim said as he started the engine.

Melinda had a huge smile on her face as she looked at her husband lovingly.

"Yeah let's get going, I'm dying to go for a walk and see Delia at the shop."


	7. Chapter 7 The visit

Chapter 7

Ok I am rubbish and haven't updated in ages which is rubbish so I'm very sorry. I went on holiday and then I had loads of things to sort out at home, I'm moving to uni soon. I need to get over this writers block so this chapter is a bit, boring but I hope you will enjoy it anyway. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Chapter 7: The visit

They hadn't been walking long when a familiar feeling of dizziness crept up on Melinda once again, Jim noticed her unsteadiness straight away and guided her to a nearby bench were she could catch her balance.

"You Ok Mel?" Jim asked as he watched his wife slowly breathe through the dizzy spell.

"Mmmm, I'm good, just can't tell if it's a symptom of the pregnancy or that creepy ghost watching me again." Mel replied.

"Well whatever it is, it's starting to get old and I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of it." Jim replied sounding defensive.

"Me too, but if it is the baby it will go away soon and if it's the ghost I'll have to do something about it wont I." She replied.

Jim still didn't look satisfied, and he certainly wasn't impressed with the idea that Mel would face this demonic ghost but he knew that in the end, he would be fighting a losing battle, and she would have to talk to it sooner or later.

"I'm feeling better now, and I'd still like to go and see Delia." Mel said fluttering her eyelids at Jim, she knew he wouldn't be able to resist this way.

Even though her dizziness had subsided she still had a feeling that she was been watched by something, or someone but she had no intention of letting Jim know just in case he marched her back home.

"Yeah I thought you might say that and I planned for an event like this so I called Delia yesterday. She'll be at Village Java in 15minutes so we can go and meet her there." Jim replied sounding impressed with his ability to arrange a meeting.

"This is so I wont attempt work isn't it Jim." Mel said with an enquiring smile.

"Mostly yes I know how you get when we go into the shop, a customer comes in and you can't help yourself, plus I didn't want you going to the shop in case that creepy dude is hanging around, you've seen enough of him at the house." He replied.

"Well I can't disagree with you there but I need to get to the bottom of this before it gets worse."

"I know, and you will but right now we should make our way to Village Java before we're late." Jim said as he put his arm around Melinda and they began to walk in the direction of the shop.

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When the couple arrived at Village Java they saw Delia sitting by the window reading the newspaper, hopefully she hadn't been waiting long. As they neared Delia realised that the couple had arrived and stood up to greet them, her arms open to hug Mel.

"Hey Melinda, you look good, glowing in fact." Delia said as she gestured for the couple to sit down.

"Oh thanks, I feel much better." Melinda replied as she took a seat next to Delia, Jim sat the other side of her.

"How have things been going at the shop while I've been away?" Mel asked.

"Good, everything is going well but I do miss your company you know." Delia smiled.

"Ah, well I want to come back to work but Jim here won't let me until I've seen the doctor for the check up." Mel said rolling her eyes playfully at Jim.

"It's because I love you Mel, you know that, and the doctor gave me strict instructions to keep you off your feet for long periods of time." Jim replied and smiled at his wife.

"You know he is probably right, I know what you're like, you say you're just going to pop to the shops and we don't see you for 2 hours." Delia said half joking half being serious.

"Surely I'm not _that_ bad am I, I just don't like sitting around?" Mel asked.

"I hate to break it to you honey but you're a handful really, you never seem to sit down and take a break and this time I'm not going to cave." Jim said.

"He's right. In fact if I even see you attempt to set foot in the shop before next week I will call Jim straight away."

"Fine, fine I get it, no work until next week but do I have permission to go and get myself a tea?" Melinda asked smiling.

Jim and Delia both laughed at her expression then Jim moved to one side to let her out.

"Go ahead." He said as he gestured to the counter in a playfully patronising way.

Melinda just made a 'ha ha very funny' face at him and headed for the counter.

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An hour had passed since the group had first met at the café and Delia had parted to go back to work. With no one to sit the shop she didn't want to leave it closed for too long or business may go down, this was unlikely but plausible.

Jim insisted that since Delia had left he and Mel should go home, this basically meant that he was conscious of the amount of time Melinda had spent on her feet and he didn't like it. At one point she thought he was going to offer to carry her to the car but thankfully he didn't.

The journey home wasn't a long one and the couple sat in bliss silence until Melinda started to speak.

"Jim…." Mel said as if she wanted to ask him something.

"Hmmm, what is it Mel."

"Do you think, well do you think that Delia had any idea about my condition?" Mel asked.

"What do you mean 'You're condition' are we talking about the baby or the creepy freak with the black eyes that keeps appearing?" Jim asked pretending he didn't know which she was referring to.

"Jim, I was talking about the baby, she kept looking at me differently." Mel sighed.

"Oh no that was because you had lipstick in your teeth, nothing to do with the baby." Jim joked.

"Ha ha you are so funny, a comedian in the making. I'm been serious do you think she knows?" Mel asked.

"No, and if she does is it really that much of a deal, we will tell her once we know everything is alright next week." Jim reassured her.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Jim." She smiled and returned to her quiet state. They were almost home now anyway.

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As Jim pulled the car into the driveway Mel felt a presence nearing, she was pretty sure that her latest '_friend' _was about to make an appearance.

"Jim, I think we are about to receive a visit." Mel said quickly.

"Alright, I'm ready, in fact just stay sitting down." He replied knowing how the spirit usually affected her.

It wasn't long before Mel's feeling came true and the man appeared in front of her, his persona still unpleasant by all means.

"What do you want from me?" Mel asked very sternly.

The ghost just laughed in a very dry, harsh tone, all the time his eyes fixated on Melinda.

"I can help you if you let me." She called again but the ghost seemed to be paying no attention to her words, he just stared at her and smiled eerily.

Jim was getting anxious, he had no idea where the ghost was, what he looked like, or what he was saying to his wife but he knew that it was causing her some stress and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Mel is everything Ok? Jim asked.

"Mmmm." Is all she could manage to say in response, her head was pounding and she was pretty sure that if she made any attempt to stand up she would be greeted by her seat moments later.

"Melinda, I do not want anything from you I don't want your help either, I've been sent to bring you a message." The ghost whispered eerily.

"What message?" Mel asked nervously.

"The message is that someone is looking for you, there are things happening, things are changing and they need you to stop it, but if you help them you will die." The ghost said in a wispy, calm voice.

"What do you mean?" Melinda asked desperately now.

"I mean we don't want it to stop and if you try we will stop you." The man laughed his raspy laugh then left abruptly leaving Mel with a banging headache and fear.

"Mel are you Ok, is he gone?" Jim asked sincerely.

Melinda could only nod slightly then she began to cry, she had a baby to think about now and at this moment in time threats from hot headed ghosts were more than she could handle. Jim put his arm around her and helped his teary wife inside in a bid to calm her down. He did not look happy about the ghost to say the least. Something needed to be done.


	8. Chapter 8 A Beautiful day

I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter and I'm trying to keep it interesting so you all keep reading

Really sorry I didn't update for ages went on holiday for 10 days and I have just got back. I did try to finish this chapter before I went but I received writers block and nagging from my mum that I needed to pack.

I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter and I'm trying to keep it interesting so you all keep reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter and continue to read this story. This chapter probably wont be as eventful as the last one but I tried to make it interesting reading and there is lots of Jimel fluff lol.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far I really appreciate the feedback and thank you to all the readers.

Chapter 8: A Beautiful day 

Jim was in the kitchen, making himself a hot cup of tea whilst Melinda lay sleeping on the sofa. The day's events had taken their toll on her and after spending the best part of an hour in hysterics over the dark eyed ghost her body had finally switched off allowing her to get some much needed rest. From the kitchen Jim could still keep an eye on his wife, although it was more than likely that she would be fine he wasn't a man that liked to take chances on these kinds of things, especially when the safety of his wife and unborn child were concerned.

When he had finished in the kitchen Jim made his way to the living room and sat in the chair by the sofa, he looked over to Melinda and smiled to himself. For the first time in about a week he felt sure that she was going to get a good nights sleep without any ghostly interruptions, she looked so peaceful, so beautiful when she slept and this only added to Jim's love for her.

Sometimes he felt so helpless when he had to watch Mel suffer on the account of some confused spirit or as the case may be, some demonic soul that gets a kick out of winding people up. She hadn't managed to tell him exactly what went on with the visitor that came earlier but from the amount of tears she shed, and the few words she managed to get out the handsome paramedic knew that this dude meant business and that he was going to try and make trouble for Melinda.

Once he had finished his drink Jim scooped Melinda in his arms, she only stirred slightly when he picked her up but she was so deep in sleep that she never actually awoke. He carried her up the stairs with ease and carefully pulled the cover back and placed her on the bed. Once he was satisfied that she was comfortable Jim took of his shirt and joined his wife in bed he would attempt to sleep but knew that this would probably be difficult when he was so intent on keeping an eye on his wife.

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The gleaming sun beamed through a small gap in the curtains right onto Melinda's face, causing her to stir from her sleep. When she was fully awake she turned to face the clock on the bedside table and was shocked to see that it was already 9:30. Melinda very rarely slept in past nine in fact she very rarely slept a full night without waking up from a bad dream. Come to think of it she didn't even remember getting to bed.

She looked over at the empty space where Jim should have been but the familiar sound of clanking pots and pans coming from the kitchen reassured her that he wasn't far away. Since it was past 9am Melinda figured that she really should go join her husband downstairs and so she pulled back the blanket, swivelled her legs around to dangle out of the bed then stood up, placing her feet in the fluffy pink slippers underneath her toes.

Next Melinda walked over to the bedroom door and took her robe from the hook; she slowly slipped her hands, then arms into the sleeves and fastened the gown closed. She opened the curtains to allow sunshine to flood the room and looked outside for a few brief moments. The street looked so beautiful as the morning dew glistened in the sunlight and the postman dropped letters into people's mail boxes causing a simple smile to grace her cheeks. She was done looking at the view from her bedroom window and headed off down the stairs to greet her wonderful husband.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw Jim finishing up the dishes and quietly began to sneak up on him, however her plan was foiled when she accidently hit her leg on one of the stools.

"Ow, god I'm such a clutz." She whispered to herself.

"Good morning to you too honey." Jim said as he turned around to face her, a cheeky smile plastered across his face.

"Man you caught me, sneaking really isn't for me." She replied, whilst rubbing her leg like a small child in the place the stool had hit.

Jim dried his hands on a nearby tea towel then walked over to his wife wrapping his arms around her and placing small, affectionate, kisses along her neck.

"You know you still haven't said good morning yet." Jim said playfully still holding her in his embrace. He took a small glance at where she was rubbing her leg, just to make sure she was fine.

"Oh haven't I?" Melinda replied smiling cheekily as she moved away from her husband toward the fridge. She pulled out a cold bottle of water and began to take a drink.

She then walked back over to where Jim was still standing, reached up to put her arms around his neck and lovingly kissed him on the mouth.

"Good morning." She said before again, leaving him standing to go and sit down on one of the stools, making a point to avoid the one she previously walked into.

"I take it you slept well after what happened yesterday then, you look wonderful this morning." Jim said as he walked over to the stove and placed a pan on the front right hob.

"Yes I did actually, what's for breakfast?" She asked sweetly. If she was honest the events of yesterday had completely escaped her mind until Jim had mentioned it but she was in too good a mood to let them bother her at the moment.

Jim paused briefly pondering whether to ask her exactly what she saw yesterday but when he saw the wonderful smile illuminating her face and the sparkle in her eyes he thought better of it, he could ask her later.

"I was going to make you some of my famous pancakes then I want to take you out somewhere." Jim smiled as he poured a small amount of olive oil into the pan.

"Oh really, that's great." She said with a smile.

A few minutes had passed then Melinda spoke again, she knew Jim loved to surprise her but she liked to know what was happening.

"So…… Where are we going then?" She asked sweetly, fluttering her eyelids in Jim's direction in a bid to convince him to tell her.

"It's a surprise, now sit your butt back on the stool while I finish preparing your pancakes, I added a little something special this time." Jim replied. He was always expecting her to ask where they were going, he knew her too well.

"Oh alright, I'm not going to come up in hives when I bite this am I." She replied jokingly remembering a previous occasion when she had unknowingly taken a bite of his lethal hoho.

"No, I promise." He replied carrying over a small plate of heart shaped pancakes in front of her a pecking her on the forehead.

"They are very sweet." She smiled then started to dig in.

A few moments passed and Melinda had eaten all she could manage, since she found out she was pregnant eating a lot early on in the day was still some what a problem. More than 5 or 6 mouth full's and she was ready to puke her guts up.

"Jim since you're not going to tell me where we are going can you at least give me some idea on what kind of thing I need to wear." She asked attempting to pry some information out of her husband.

He glanced down at her plate and noticed that she hadn't eaten much for the 4th morning in a row.

"Jim, its fine I just don't feel that hungry on a morning and the baby doesn't seem to agree with it either." Mel said noticing his glance at her plate.

"Ok if you're sure, I'll get you something whilst we're out, as for what to wear anything goes so wear whatever you want, you'll look wonderful anyway." He replied lovingly.

"Urgh I'm never going to get any information out of you am I?" She replied slightly frustrated.

"Nope, that's why it's a surprise now go and get ready or I might just have to leave without you." He said playfully.

"You wouldn't" She replied.

"Oh really?" He said pretending to head for the door.

"Ok, ok I'm going give me 15, 20 minutes tops." Mel said as she made her way to the bedroom.

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20 minutes had passed, Jim had loaded everything he needed in the car but Melinda still hadn't returned from upstairs, come to think of it Jim hadn't heard her moving around for a while which sent the alarm bells ringing.

"Mel you Ok." He called up the stairs, but there was no answer.

"Mel." He called again this time whilst running up the stairs.

When he reached the top he saw that the bathroom door was ajar slightly and he could hear the sound of his wife throwing up.

"Hey, hey Mel are you alright?" Jim asked concerned.

"Mmm I think so, just morning sickness I think." She replied weakly still slightly hunched over the toilet bowl.

"You still feel up to going out, we don't have to go if you're not up to it." Jim said whilst rubbing her back like he had done before.

"No I really want to go, I feel better now, honestly." She said reassuringly as she turned away from the toilet and placed a hand on Jim's shoulders to stand up.

"Just gonna wash my face and brush my teeth, I will be five minutes, and this time I mean it." She replied smiling sweetly.

"Ok but I'm waiting outside the door." He said insistently.

True to her word Melinda came bounding out of the bathroom five minutes later with a smile on her face although Jim could tell that she wasn't 100 by the peaky look of her skin. He would just have to keep an eye on her.

"Right lets go then." He said heading down the stairs.

"We're taking my car so jump in the front whilst I lock up." Jim said lovingly.

"Ok." She replied.

Once all the doors were locked Jim took his place in the drivers seat and placed the keys in the ignition.

"Hope you're ready for my brilliant surprise." He said kissing his wife on the cheek.

"Always." She replied as she looked into his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9 The Lake

Thank you again for reading this far I really appreciate it and thanks for all the reviews I love to read them

Thank you again for reading this far I really appreciate it and thanks for all the reviews I love to read them. I hope you will enjoy this chapter and I am trying to upload more frequently for the moment as I am moving to uni in 2 weeks and probably won't be able to upload for a while after that, until I get my laptop and internet sorted. Please continue to read and enjoy!

Chapter 9: The Lake

They had been driving to Jim's secret destination for almost an hour now and Melinda was beginning to get a little tired she was also slightly bored and really needed to pee.

"Jim is it far now I really have to use the bathroom." She moaned.

"5, 10 minutes tops can you wait that long, if not I can pull over here and you can pee in that bush." He said trying to make light of the situation.

"Ha, Ha funny but seriously I am not going anywhere near that bush so you better get a move on, unless you want a wet car seat." She replied making a little joke of her own but the look on Jim's face showed that he wasn't so sure it was a joke.

It had been just over 5 minutes when Jim pulled up outside a small log cabin beside a lake, he had come here a few time with his family as a child but hadn't been back since his father passed away.

"Ok Mel this is it, we're here." He said as he carefully parked the car and turned off the ignition.

"Oh it's wonderful, how come you never took me here before?" She asked, admiring the cabin from out of the car window.

"I dunno, I came here as a kid but I never really wanted to come back after my dad died, until now." He replied placing a kiss on Melinda's cheek. He then opened the car door, slid out of the car, and ran round to where Melinda was sat and opened the door for her too.

"Why thank you." She said smiling cheekily.

"You're always welcome." He replied cheesily.

"Right can we go inside 'because I really have to go pee." She said sounding like a small child.

"Oh yeah sure thing honey, here are the keys, bathroom is up the stairs, first room on the left, come right back out when you're done I have another surprise for you." He said placing the keys in his wife's delicate hands.

"Thank you." She replied quickly before heading straight for the cabin door and dashing up the stairs like a bullet.

Jim chucked to himself at his wife's urgency to reach the toilet and things were only going to got worse as the pregnancy developed. It was only 2 days until Melinda was to return to the doctor for a routine check up on herself and the baby and although Mel seemed fine Jim was still worried.

As the cabin didn't have a garden Jim took advantage of the location and decided to set up his surprise on a small hill by the lake, he figured if he was quick enough he could set everything up before Melinda came looking for him.

First he pulled a large chequered rug and laid it on the flattest part of the hill, it was a beautiful sunny day, not even a slight breeze or a single cloud in the sky to ruin it. Next Jim retrieved the picnic hamper from the side of the cabin (he had hidden it there in case Melinda came out) and began to set up a small picnic area, placing the basket in the middle with a bunch of flowers. Now all he had to do was wait for his wife.

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_(Meanwhile)_

Melinda had run up the stairs so fast that she hadn't even had a chance to take a look at how beautiful the cabin was. When she reached the top of the stairs she did as Jim said and entered the first room on the right. The room consisted of a rather large and luxurious looking bath tub directly opposite the door but there were a few feet between the door and the bathtub. At the right of room there was the toilet and opposite that was a basin with a large, frameless mirror above it.

. Melinda walked over to the basin to wash her hands and glanced at her reflection as she did so.

"Errrgh, gosh I look awful." She muttered to herself.

Seeing her reflection in the mirror caused her to realise that she did in fact look as bad as she felt and so she turned on the hot tap, filled the basin with water and began to rinse her face. Suddenly the room turned cold causing Melinda to shiver slightly, she could sense a presence in the room but when she looked around she could see nothing.

"Hello, who's there?" She called out. Nothing happened.

"Hello I can help you if you just show yourself, I know you're here I can sense your energy." She called once again and this time she caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye.

Turning in the direction she saw the spirit she spoke once more, "My name is Melinda, I want to help you."

Finally the spirit appeared to Melinda but she seemed very distant, like she didn't want to be there. Her features appeared almost porcelain, making her look extremely fragile and her long, dark hair made her already pale face look ghostly. From how she appeared in front of Melinda it was apparent that she had died a pretty violent death as she was bruised and cut all over the place but she was still enchantingly beautiful and Melinda felt drawn to her straight away.

"Hello, do you need my help?" The ghost whisperer asked the young spirit.

"Not exactly, I came here to bring you a message." The girl said.

Melinda swallowed hard, "What message, who sent you?" She asked wearily.

"That isn't important but you need to listen. Dangerous things are happening Melinda and this time you might not be able to stop them, you must be careful because the spirits need your help." The girl said plainly.

"What do you mean? Why do you need my help and why am I in danger?" Melinda asked pleadingly.

"He's coming, be careful Melinda..." The ghost trailed off as she disappeared.

Mel stood in shock at first but she didn't have much time to sit and think about the visit before a familiar and yet very unwelcome ghost appeared to her in the bathroom causing her to feel instantly dizzy and nauseas.

"Jim." She managed to call out weakly before sitting herself on the bathroom floor, head in her hands.

"What do you want?" She asked her voice frail.

"I warned you about helping those spirits, she came to you and I know it but you can't help her and she can't save you or your child. People are very interested in this baby and not just spirits." The dark eyed ghost spoke his lips barely moving.

"What, why?" She asked, her voice even quieter than before as she began to feel herself losing consciousness from the spirits overwhelming energy.

"Because you and your future child will allow spirits as myself to walk amongst the living once more." The ghost spat then abruptly disappeared.

His departure tipped Melinda over the edge and she lost the battle to keep her eyes open and her mind active, she blacked out.

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Jim hadn't heard Melinda's call and was beginning to get worried about her, she had said she would only be 5 minutes but he was pretty sure she had been at least 10 and he decided to go looking for her.

Opening the door to the front of the cabin Jim firstly scoured the bottom floor to see if his wife was simply having a nosey around but he couldn't see her anywhere and he was becoming increasingly worried.

"Mel, Mel are you alright?" He called, the sound of his voice echoed around the cabin and straight back to him but he received no reply.

Jim then ran straight up the stairs, even faster than Mel had done earlier and bounded straight through the bathroom door where is saw he wife laid unconscious on the floor.

He ran straight up to her and instinctively checked her pulse. It was weak but definitely present he knew that he had to get her to wake up, the longer she was out the more danger she would be in, and the baby but he was pretty sure that it wasn't health problems that caused the incident.

"Mel honey I need you to wake up for me." He spoke softly into her ear. She did make a small noise but nothing much else.

"Melinda, you have to wake up, come on, for me, please." Jim said trying to stay as calm as possible.

This time she managed to move her arm slightly and began to open her eyes. When Jim saw this he let out a sigh of relief.

"Honey you scared the hell out of me just then." He said holding her tightly in his arms and placing soft kisses on her face.

"...I'm sorry." She replied still a little weak and shaken.

"Hey it's ok as long as you're ok that's all that matters." Jim said softly still holding her safe in his embrace.

"I still want to see this big surprise if that's ok." She said fluttering her eyelids slightly.

"I dunno, you really should rest Mel, you were out for at least 5minutes." Jim said looking at her sincerely but those puppy dog eyes were wearing him in, as usual!

"Please I promise I'll sit down the whole time, unless you had a hike planned, in which case I will stay right here." She said sounding a little better.

Jim pondered her request for a few seconds, _well she does need to eat something and may be a little fresh air and some nice food will make her feel better._

"Alright, but..." He scooped Mel up into his arms and began to carry her. "I'm carrying you to the surprise. He said on his way down the stairs, Melinda neatly in his arms as she had been the night they moved into their home.

Melinda didn't protest, even if she had wanted to she was in his arms before she had even had the time to blink but there was going to be no complaining. He was probably right anyway; if someone she knew had just spent 5 minutes unconscious then she probably wouldn't let them go gallivanting around either. Plus she still felt a little shaky, but that was probably because she hadn't eaten since she threw her breakfast up this morning.

When they reached the picnic area Jim placed his wife on a spot on the chequered rug and sat opposite her, so close that their noses were almost touching.

"Oh this is so great, I can't believe you did all of this for me." Melinda exclaimed as she put her arms round her gorgeous husband's neck and kissed him.

"I would only do all of this for you and only you." He replied kissing her back.

The pair then sat together eating food from the picnic basket, feeding each other strawberries and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the breathtaking view of the lake at the bottom of the hill.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks again for reading the story and I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. This will probably be the last chapter before I go to uni because I move on Sunday and I am busy packing at the moment. When I get moved in and the internet sorted the chapters will come rolling in again. I basically had to split the chapters into to so this is kind of half; chapter 1 will be posted tomorrow morning just before I go to uni so enjoy reading this one. By the way I'm from the UK so I'm not sure what time it will be for the people in other countries lol.

Chapter 10: Preparing for the news.

The morning arrived much sooner than anticipated, it seemed like they had only just arrived at the cabin and yet Jim was packing the few items they brought into bags while Melinda slept. The only positive side to these hauntings were that Melinda was finally managing to sleep through a whole night without any night terrors or ghostly interruptions and that was good for her and the baby.

By the time he had finished collecting all their things together and loading them into the car it was around noon so Jim decided to wake Melinda, and make something to eat so they could set off home in plenty of time. She had a doctor's appointment the next morning and Jim wanted her to be well rested and comfortable.

When he entered the bedroom he saw that Melinda had woken herself and was sitting up in bed looking through an old photo album that she had found in one of the drawers by the bed.

"Hey where'd you get that?" Jim said as he moved over and sat on the bed next to his wife.

"I just found it in the drawer by the bed." She replied still flicking through the pages.

"Is this you?" She asked pointing to a picture of a young boy and giggling slightly. The boy was wearing a green raincoat, kharkie pants and a fisherman's hat. He also had black wellington boots on and was holding a fish that was almost as big as him.

"Ok Mel that's enough." He replied wrestling her for the photo album. There were many embarrassing pictures of him in there and she had seen enough for the moment, or that's what Jim thought any way.

"Awww c'mon I was just looking, you've seen loads of pictures of me when I wasn't looking my best." She replied pouting as he held the album just out of reach.

"Ah but you always looked beautiful, or extremely cute in a weird way." He joked.

"Jim c'mon, I want to finish looking." Melinda pouted.

"Ok, ok we can take it home; to be honest I can't believe that it's still here after all these years." He said putting the album back on the bedside table.

"Right I'm making lunch then we need to get going so do you think you could start getting ready?" Jim asked placing a kiss on his wife's forehead and massaging her shoulders.

"Mmm yeah I will if you let me." She replied, slowly edging toward the clothes that had been set aside for her on the chair.

"Sorry, you're just so beautiful." He replied playfully.

"I know I know, just go make lunch." She said joking.

"I'm going, shout me if you need anything." He replied.

"I will but I'm pretty sure I can dress myself." She answered contently.

Jim stood in the doorway for a few moments watching the woman he had married. She was perfect in his eyes and just looking at her made him smile.

"Jim what are you doing?" Melinda asked when she saw him still standing in the doorway.

"Oh nothing, just thinking." He replied before heading off to the kitchen. He had lunch to make whilst Melinda got ready.

Melinda shook her head and rolled her eyes before taking her clothes and a towel and heading for the bathroom. She was going to take a shower before she ate after the way she looked yesterday it shower might make her look a little more 'alive'.

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It was now 1:30pm and the couple were on their way back to Grandview. The shower hadn't taken Melinda very long and after eating lunch she looked and felt much better.

"Jim, how long is it going to take to get back?" Melinda asked her voice quieter than usual.

"Shouldn't be too long now honey, are you feeling alright?" Jim asked concerned for his wife yet again.

"Yeah, I'm fine just feeling a little sick, probably ate too much that's all." Melinda replied giving her best effort to reassure her husband.

"We can pull over on the next lay by and get some fresh air for a few minutes, there's one coming up in 5 miles." Jim replied before increasing the speed they were travelling ever so slightly.

It took barley any time for them to arrive at the lay by and Jim pulled up the car to allow Melinda to step out for some fresh air. He also collected a bottle of water he had stashed in a cooler in the trunk so that she could have something to drink.

Melinda sat on the edge of the grass taking in long, deep, breaths of fresh air. Jim headed over to her with the bottle of water that he had just opened and handed it to his wife.

"Here you go honey, drink this." He said as he gave her the bottle and sat down beside her.

"Thanks Jim, I feel much better now anyway, I think being cooped up in a warm vehicle on a sunny day disagrees with me, that's all.

"Yeah?" Jim replied.

"Yeah." She answered back smiling then stood up.

"Are we going then? We have a schedule to keep." She asked whilst heading toward the car.

"Ok I get it I'm coming." Jim replied. He then stood up, walked over to his car, opened the door and sat in the driving seat. When all seat belts were properly fastened he started the engine and they were on their way once again.

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It was now 6pm and Melinda had managed to make it all the way home with no more stops or interruptions. She was now lying on the sofa in the living room equipped with a hot mug of tea and a blanket. Of course this was all courtesy of her wonderful husband who was in the kitchen preparing yet another meal.

"Jim you can't be hungry again we only just ate." Melinda called through to her husband.

"Hey we ate like 5 hours ago and you, you're eating for two now so you've gotta eat more to keep your energy levels up. We don't want you getting sick." Jim replied whilst chopping some celery.

"I'm fine and we're seeing the doctor in the morning anyway, the only thing I need to do is take a long bath and go to sleep." Melinda called back in her defence but she knew that he was right, she did need to eat something else but she just didn't feel hungry.

"Well once you have had some of my fabulous casserole I will personally go and fill you a nice, hot bath which may or may not come with a massage from a hunky paramedic depending on how much of my food you eat." Jim replied trying to cheer Melinda up, he then placed the casserole into the oven and walked through to the living room to join his wife.

"Mmm what makes you think that I want a massage?" She replied playfully.

"Oh I dunno, just a hunch." He replied coming up behind his wife and placing soft kisses along the side of her neck.

Melinda giggled before attempting to pull away from his soft kisses but he kept pulling her back.

"Jim, stop it, I'm going to drop my tea." She laughed as he jumped over the sofa and sat next to her.

"No." He replied taking her cup from her hand, tickling her and placing more kisses up and down her neck.

"Seri...ously Jim sto...p it." She replied out of breath from laughing.

"Alright, alright." He replied as he stopped tickling his wife and placed her head onto his lap.

The pair stayed on the sofa for the next 10 minutes, Melinda lay on Jim's lap whilst he stroked her hair, it wasn't until he looked at his watch and realised that he needed to check the casserole that they parted.

Lunch went smoothly; Melinda managed to eat almost everything on her plate and then went on to take a hot bath before retiring to bed at around 10. Jim stayed down stairs for a while watching the end of some sports documentary before joining his wife around 11:30. They had had a wonderful evening with no interruptions from unruly ghosts and Jim was extremely relieved that his wife was getting a much needed break from spirits, even if it had only been for 1 day.

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The morning arrived particularly quickly and a nervous Melinda had just finished getting dressed when the phone started to ring downstairs.

"Hey Mel can you get that honey? Jim called from the shower, despite Mel's efforts he had woken up late and was now rushing around to get himself ready on time.

"I'm coming, I'm coming hold on." Melinda muttered to herself as she ran down the stairs to pick up the phone.

"Hello." She said as she answered the phone.

_Hey are you Melinda Gordon?_

"Yeah, who is this?" Melinda asked slightly confused.

_I'm detective inspector Loft and I'm calling about your store._

"Why what's wrong?" Melinda asked slightly dismayed.

_There has been some damage to the property a few smashed windows, we aren't sure if anything was taken but we're going to look into it for you but we need you to come down to the station._

"Oh gosh I can't believe it. I have an appointment at the hospital this morning so I can't make it to the station but I can give you my partners address and you could speak to her. If neither of us can make it I can come this evening, at around 5." Melinda replied sounding pretty concerned about her store.

_Don't worry ms Gordon we can make some arrangement I will call you again this evening and send an officer to the store around lunch time, just let your friend know someone will be dropping by, and you should probably tell her about the damage too._

"Ok, thank you, bye" Melinda said then placed the receiver back on the holder once the detective had hung up.

Jim came down the stairs shortly after she had hung up the phone in a pair of jeans but he seemed to be missing a shirt. He placed a kiss on her cheek before going to the kitchen and pulling a clean shirt out of the dryer.

"Who was on the phone?" He asked whilst he pulled the white t-shirt over his head.

"It was the police, there's been some damage to the shop, a few smashed windows but they're not sure if anyone got in and took anything." Melinda answered still sounding pretty dismayed by the whole incident.

"Whoa really, when in the hell did that happen? Do they have any idea who it might be?" He asked sounding pretty miff.

"He didn't say but they are going to call me back later on tonight, I need to let Delia know though so she doesn't turn up at the shop and get the shock of her life. I don't even know how bad it is." Melinda finished, speaking so quickly that Jim had trouble keeping up.

"Ok but you better hurry up because the appointment is in an hour and we still have to get there." Jim replied reminding her that they had a pretty important appointment rather soon.

"Hmm I will." She said as she dialled Delia's number in the phone.

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She didn't spend long on the phone to Delia, who had sounded just as shocked on the phone as Melinda had and they were now on their way to the hospital, both feeling a little nervous.

As they stopped at the traffic lights Jim looked over to his wife and from her body language he could tell that she was feeling extremely nervous and apprehensive about the appointment.

He leant over and put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"It's gonna be fine Mel don't worry." Jim said softly.

"Hmm I know it's just I've never done this before and with the stuff at the store I kind of feel like I should be somewhere else." She replied still staring forwards out of the windscreen.

"I know but I'm here." He replied and this time she looked at him for a brief moment and smiled.

"Thanks Jim, you always know what to say." Melinda replied contently.

Just then the lights changed from red to green and Jim continued to drive the Jeep on to the hospital. They had decided to take Melinda's car today for no particular reason, other than Melinda was hoping the doctor would convince Jim that she was fine to drive and he could take the car home. He was pretty sure she would have attempted to drive his car but it was more difficult to handle so Melinda's was the safer option.

When they arrived in the hospital parking lot even Jim was beginning to feel extremely nervous, like Melinda he had never done this either. _What if something was wrong? What if Melinda was ill? How the hell do you look after a baby anyway? _ These questions were whirling around in his mind and he was pretty sure that Melinda was thinking the same but looking at his wife he was sure of one thing. He was sure that Melinda was the only one for him and he was ready to have a child with her, he might not have a clue how to be a parent but he wanted to learn with her

"You ready?" He said placing an arm around Mel's waist.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled again, "I think so." She replied and also placed an arm around him.


	11. Chapter 11 News and revelations

Hey guys last chapter before I go to uni so enjoy

Hey guys last chapter before I go to uni uploaded later than anticipated but it's here so enjoy!! Hope you enjoy this chapter I have uploaded like 3 at once so you have had some reading to do. Write in about a week when everything is sorted. Happy reading!!

Chapter 11: News and revelations

Inside the hospital it was packed, patients were been carted around in wheel chairs or on gurneys and doctors and nurses were darting around like headless chickens. The waiting room was full of potentially sick people and well just plain obvious sick people, the kind of sick that involved throwing up on the floor at least 3 times in the space of 10 minutes. It was amusing in a subtle kind of way as a mop bucket was now resident in the vicinity of the projectile vomit patient, as Melinda had now renamed him.

"Jim are you sure we've come to the right part I mean there are no other pregnant people here, I swear we're in A&E." She whispered to her husband who was looking around tentatively.

"Erm no honey this isn't A&E I think they're just so swamped that people are been put anywhere they can find." Jim replied still concentrating on some argument that was happening in one of the corridors between two doctors.

"What time was the appointment we've been waiting at least 20minutes and I swear we were running late anyway." She asked Jim. The hospital waiting room was beginning to make her feel slightly claustrophobic with all the people crammed into a small space and the heat was not good for her.

"Yeah if she doesn't call for us in the next 5 minutes I'll go investigate, are you ok you look a little pale?" Jim stated noticing his wife's flushed look and he wanted to get her through as quick as possible.

"Thanks, I'm fine, just a little warm." She said fanning her face with a magazine and removing her coat.

"Ok just stay sitting down I'm gonna go and ask the reception desk if we can go through it's got to be cooler round there." Jim said obviously worried about Mel and her sudden pale complexion.

Jim walked over to the desk at the front of all the chaos leaving Mel sat on a chair head in her hands. Whilst he made the short walk to the desk he had to avoid a pair of bickering children, a vomiting woman and an angry patient rolling away in one of the hospital's wheel chairs who was been chased by a porter screaming stop. If he didn't know how hard these people had to work he would have been extremely angry about the shambolic atmosphere, instead he just chuckled.

"Hello over here." Jim said as he leant over the reception desk to see a flustered young girl sifting through a very muddled pile of paperwork.

"Oh erm sorry just give me a second." She replied brushing the pile to one side and clambering to her feet.

"How can I help you?" She asked in a now professional tone.

"My wife had an appointment to see Dr Jenson about half an hour ago and normally I wouldn't bother you but she's feeling a little dizzy, is there any way we could wait somewhere less busy?" Jim asked politely trying his best to schmooze the over worked girl behind the desk she was barely out of college.

"Erm.. One Second I will check I think Dr Jenson will be free in 5minutes she is just with one of the patients involved in the bus crash." The receptionist stated.

"Oh right no problem." He replied then looked back to make sure Mel was still alright or at least still conscious.

5 minutes passed and the receptionist informed Jim that he and Mel could make their way to Dr Jenson's exam room and that she would be along shortly. Following this news Jim walked over to Melinda put his arm around her waist and walked her out of the reception area into a much cooler and less crowded corridor.

"She said to go to the exam room and the doctor will be in shortly, you feeling any better?"

"A little yeah it was just really stuffy in there and warm." She replied as they walked towards the exam room.

"Yeah you look a little better." He said noticing that she was beginning to regain colour in her cheeks as they neared the room.

"Jim do you think it has anything to do with the baby because the ghost wasn't around and I still felt a bit dizzy." Melinda asked a worried expression on her face.

"I don't think so Mel, it's more likely that you've been feeling dizzy and sick because you haven't been eating much and when it's warm it affects you more, plus the doctor said you were slightly anaemic and that can cause dizziness." Jim replied sympathetically, he was more worried for Mel than the baby as he knew how resilient they could be.

"Hmm maybe you're right but I just can't seem to keep anything down, every time I eat something I feel really sick after." She stated.

"I know honey the doctor might be able to help by giving you some anti-nausea tablets." He replied putting a supportive arm around her waist before leading her into the relevant examination room.

They weren't waiting more than 5 minutes before Dr Jenson came bounding into the room looking majorly flustered.

"Really sorry I'm late we've been rushed off our feet, bus crash you see and there were two pregnant women on bored and a 3rd who had just had a child, it's been completely mad."

Jim and Mel just gave her a smile to show that they understood.

"Anyway how are you feeling Melinda, you look better than the last time I saw you." The tall blonde enquired.

"I feel better." She smiled the best fake smile she could manage at that moment which wasn't very convincing, a fool would have noticed that she wasn't 100.

"Ok good." The doctor replied.

Jim glanced at Melinda disapprovingly before turning to face Dr Jenson.

"Listen doc she's been constantly sick and so it's been an issue getting her to keep food down is there anything you can give her for it because it's making her feel ill." Jim asked, he was clearly concerned for his wife's well being and Dr Jenson could see this.

"I think I can prescribe some anti-nausea tablets but you should only take them if you need them and never take more than 3 in a day." She replied turning to Melinda whilst she explained the dosage.

"Now let's get you on the bed so I can check your Bp and do an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok with the baby." Dr Jenson sympathetically. Although Melinda looked better than the last time she had been in the hospital the Dr could see that she was pretty run down and that the morning sickness wasn't agreeing with her. Normally it wouldn't be that much of a problem as most women do manage to cope with the lack of vitamins for the first few weeks but because Melinda's blood showed she was slightly anaemic it could be a bit of a problem.

Melinda looked at Jim apprehensively before complying with the doctor's request and pulling herself onto the edge of the bed.

"Ok lie down for me please then I will take your blood pressure." The doctor said smiling but she could see Melinda wasn't feeling too great about all this.

It didn't take long for the doctor to finish the blood pressure check and fortunately her Bp had lowered since the last visit but it was still higher than she would have liked. Once that was explained Melinda was given a few tips on how to keep her Bp down then prepared for her second ultrasound of the pregnancy.

"Right this is going to feel a little cold." She said as she placed the cold Jelly onto Melinda's stomach causing her to tense a little.

Next the doctor ran the camera across Melinda's stomach to reveal a small moving image. Jim squeezed Melinda's hand as they both watched the screen in amazement; you wouldn't think that something so small could create such an overwhelming reaction.

The female doctor continued to move the probe around Melinda's stomach, looking at all angles and writing stuff down on a chart. This went on for around 5 minutes until Melinda broke the silence.

"Is it ok?" Melinda asked nervously, all the scribbling had made her nervous.

"Mmm everything looks good with the baby, it seems to be growing well and is moving as it should be." The doctor smiled back as she finished writing the last bit of information on the charts.

"Good, that's good."She said looking into her husband's eyes.

"Yeah honey that's great." He said gazing back into Mel's enchanting hazel eyes.

"Now Melinda I need to take a proper look at you, you look pale, morning sickness has been an issue for you and have you been feeling dizzy?" The doctor half stated half asked.

"Well yeah I have a been a little but It's nothing really probably because I keep throwing up and this morning I received some bad news about my shop so I'm a little stressed, that's all." Melinda replied trying to shun any attempt at a medical examination.

"Hmm, well I want to check you over to make sure there is nothing else, and I'm going to take some more bloods so we can monitor your anaemia and make sure there are no other problems we need to worry about." The blond doctor explained as she pulled the stethoscope from round her neck and placed the ends into her ears.

"Ok I'm just going to do a routine exam at first, can you lift your shirt up so I can listen to your chest." She said politely then placed the stethoscope in position and asked Melinda to take deep breaths.

"Ok everything sounds fine." She smiled. Melinda smiled back but she wasn't impressed with the whole medical examination thing and this could be read by the 'I could have told you that' expression plastered unintentionally across her face.

The exam went on for around 10 minutes then some blood was taken and Melinda was allowed to leave, a Polaroid picture of the growing baby in her hand.

"I want to see you again in 3 weeks and we will give you a call when your bloods come back, if we find anything I might see you earlier." Dr Jenson said before saying bye and watching the couple leave arm in arm.

"Mel honey you still look really pale, we need to get you something to eat when we get home." Jim said lovingly to his wife.

"Yeah, I am a bit hungry, I just hope these tablets work I really don't want to spend the next 9 months slumped over a toilet." Mel replied she was pretty beaten down and just wanted to go home, have something to eat and get some rest but she still had the store to sort out.

"Good I'll make something nice then and you can sit on the sofa with a hot water bottle and put your feet up." Jim replied as he moved the car swiftly around a corner and along the road.

"Thanks Jim but what about the store and work, don't you have work tonight, you need to rest before the night shift." Melinda said concerned that her husband was putting himself out for her yet again. She was also worried about the meeting with the detective, she really didn't feel like doing that today.

"It's only 3pm now the shift doesn't start until 9pm and we will be home in 10minutes so I have plenty of time to take care of my beautiful wife and take a nap before work. Besides if I need to I will call in sick, I hate leaving you when you're ill.

"Jim you are so going to work I refuse to let you take another day off for me, I'll be fine I think I just need something to eat, a nice long bath and then a meeting with my pillow." She replied putting on her best I'm fine smile.

"Ok honey but we'll see how you are before I need to sleep, if that ghost shows up again I'm staying." He replied with an extremely serious tone, he really didn't appreciate this ghost messing with his wife and his unborn baby.

"Hmm I'll be Ok Jim, I always am." She replied smiling at him.

5 minutes later Jim pulled Melinda's Jeep into the drive way and dismounted the vehicle his wife in toe. They both took off their jackets and whilst Jim headed for the kitchen Melinda went and made herself comfortable on the sofa. Jim brought a hot water bottle through from the kitchen and a blanket from the laundry cupboard.

"Thanks Jim, I don't know what I did to deserve you." She said lovingly as she snuggled up in the blanket.

"Funny, I think exactly the same thing every time I see you." He said cheesily but it was true.

He leant down to kiss her before heading back to the kitchen to finish preparing food for the pair of them. Something that doesn't take long to prepare but fills you up.

It didn't take Jim long to prepare the food and took even less time for them to finish eating it but it tasted fantastic. Melinda then took one of her tablets hoping they would prevent the nausea occurring later, and then headed upstairs to take a long, hot, bath. Jim followed her up the stairs and when they reached the top he grabbed her around the waist and in one swift movement spun her around to face him. He then caressed her face with his hand before passionately kissing her for several seconds. When they finally broke apart he held her so close their bodies were touching and stared lovingly into her eyes, it appeared that he would never let her go, and that he never wanted to.

"Hey what was that for?" She asked playfully.

"I just love you so much, plus you looked pretty hot walking up the stairs." He joked.

A few minutes passed and they were still locked together when suddenly a very unwelcome figure appeared causing Melinda to tremble in Jim's arms.

"Mel are you Ok?" He asked worriedly.

"Mmm the ghost, he's here." She replied sounding shaken.

"Ok Mel don't worry I got you, he can't hurt you." Jim said holding s wife even closer than before which was almost impossible.

"What do you want, you can't just keep coming here like this, it's not fair." She replied putting one of her hands on her forehead.

The ghost just laughed in with a hollow tone sending shivers down Melinda's spine, even Jim got goose bumps and he hadn't heard anything.

"Honey what's going on?" He asked as he felt Mel slump in his arms slightly.

"He won't talk to me." She said desperately, she didn't want to admit it but this ghost scared the hell out of her.

"Now now Melinda, I already told you what I want, I'm just here to make sure I can still get it." He replied shrilly. She hated the way he said her name, it sounded so sharp, so cold, like he had just spat it off his tongue.

"You're making me dizzy, It's not good for me or the baby." She replied now holding onto Jim to keep herself up, she was pretty sure if she let go he legs would buckle and she would end up on the floor.

The ghost just laughed again before abruptly disappearing in his usual fashion. Again this caused Melinda to completely slump in Jim's arms. He just held her tightly and stoked her face speaking to her softly.

"It's ok Mel, I got you." He whispered.

"Just keep breathing, you're fine." He said again, this time she came to and looked up at him.

"Honey are you ok?" He asked concerned.

"I'm not sure, he... he keeps saying something about the baby been a key." She replied, her voice cracking as she held back the tears.

"What do you mean, are you in danger, is the baby in danger?" He asked sincerely.

"I... I don't know." She replied before breaking down in tears.

"Alright, it's alright." He said as he continued to caress her face.

"Shhhh." He continued.

Whilst Mel cried in his arms and Jim comforted her they were unaware that someone was watching them, but were they friend or foe?

"Mel, before you try and argue with me, I am calling in sick, there is no way I'm leaving you like this." He said to his wife as she was beginning to calm down.

"Now let's go see about that bath you were planning earlier." He spoke moving her arms from around Melinda's shoulder to rest on her hips.

"Ok, sounds good." She replied, her voice still breaking slightly.


	12. Chapter 12 Back to reality

Hey everyone thank you so much for reading this far. I really appreciate the reviews too so keep them coming. I don't start Lectures until Monday so I will try and update at least once more after this. Keep reading and enjoy!

Chapter 12 Telling Back to reality

The morning seemed to take forever to come around; Jim stayed with Melinda all night and comforted her when she woke up screaming from her nightmares. He had known her to have nightmares, pretty bad ones too but last night had taken it to a whole new level. She must have had 6 or 7 in one evening and each one was worse than the last. He had never seen his wife so terrified, so unresponsive to his attempt to comfort her after and this scared him. The one thing that was hurting his wife was the one thing that he couldn't protect her from. Ghosts. And that was what scared him the most.

At the moment Jim was sat up in bed stroking Melinda's forehead, it was about 10am but she had only just fallen back to sleep and Jim didn't want to leave her in case she woke up again. He had taken it upon himself to call Delia and ask her if she wouldn't mind looking after the shop, the window had been fixed and so it was safe to open for customers again and Melinda would be in work tomorrow.

Jim needed to use the bathroom, unfortunately this was going to be a bit of a problem as Melinda was lying on him and he didn't want to wake her up. He attempted to slide out from underneath her head but she started to stir.

"Damn it." He whispered to himself but it was just loud enough to cause Melinda to wake from her sleep.

"Mmm, Jim what are you doing." She said extremely dazed.

"Nothing honey, just need to go to the toilet." He replied now able to get out of the bed.

Melinda rubbed her eyes then noticed the sun shining through the curtains.

"What time is it?" She called now sitting up.

"A little after 10, you didn't sleep long last night, go back to sleep." Jim called back from the bathroom.

"What, are you kidding I need to get to work, Delia can't watch the shop on her own again and I'm fine, a few nightmares can't stop me." She said as she got herself out of the bed.

"Melinda what are you up to, I can hear you moving around, just stop." Jim said as he made his way back to the bedroom.

"No Mel, stop. Stop getting dressed and go back to bed." He said as insistently as he could but he knew that she wasn't going to take any notice.

"Look the way I see it is I'm already up and you have work this afternoon anyway so we can drive in together, I can run the shop, you can save lives and then you can drive me home. Ok?" She stated as she continued to change her clothes, pulling a black dress over her head.

Knowing that he had in fact been defeated he went with Melinda's plan and agreed to let he go into work, at least that way he could secretly keep an eye on her, or Delia could rather than her been alone. They now just had

"So Mel, when are we going to tell everyone about the baby, now we know that everything is going ok?" He asked smiling at his wife.

"Well I suppose I'll tell Delia today at work and you can tell your friends at work if you want." She replied, the thought of telling people made her extremely nervous but she knew it would become pretty obvious eventually so she kind of needed to tell them now.

Jim laughed a little before asking his next question as he already knew what the reaction would be. "And what about your mother, and my mother?" He asked.

The look on Melinda's face was of sheer horror, the thought of telling her mother that she was pregnant made her feel physically sick, and she knew that both Faith and her mother would be round like a shot. Faith with several different baby outfits. And her own mother, with a lecture and some not so wonderful advice.

"Oh God I can't tell my mum can you imagine the conversation, I can just see the look of disapproval on her face, she'll constantly worry that the kid will be a freak like me. What if she disowned her own grandchild, May be it's better she doesn't know." She replied frantically, she couldn't have talked any faster if she tired.

"Mel you know that makes no sense. You are not a freak and if our child shares your gift it will have you to teach it the things that your mother never taught you. You have to tell her I mean what if she comes up to visit at Christmas like usual? She's not stupid enough to think that you've just let yourself go a bit and gained a few stone, the only way you'll get away with that one is if she suddenly becomes blind." Melinda's eyes lit up as he said this.

"Ah no way Mel, and you know what my mother's like, once I tell her she'll be up here like a shot." Jim stated. He would handle letting his mother know but he really wanted Melinda to tell her own mother, it might help there slightly strained relationship.

"Well I have to get to work now so I'll deal with mother when I get back but whatever you do don't let me allow her to come visit you know how she gets, she'll be all paranoid that I'm going to die, especially if the ghost is about, she'll never come back." Melinda finished, her voice slightly quieter when she mentioned the ghost as she was always slightly paranoid that he was around.

Jim saw how stressed his wife was, she did have a lot to think about, besides telling her family and friends about the baby she had the shop to deal with after not been around for a week and she had to foot the bill for the new window that had been put in.

He walked over to her and placed his arms around her waist so they rested on her hips.

"Listen Mel, everything is going to be alright I'll be here all the way so you can relax. Let's get to work." He said comfortingly then placed a small kiss on the end of Melinda's nose causing her to smile.

"Thanks Jim." She said lovingly. They then broke apart and headed down the stairs to go to work.

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Jim parked his car outside 'Same as it never was antiques' and he and Melinda stepped out and headed into the store. Hearing the door open Delia looked up and seemed surprised to see Melinda standing in the doorway. She looked up at Jim as if questioning Mel's appearance but he just shook his head.

"Hey Delia." Melinda chirped, she was feeling particularly good now that she had arrived back at work.

"Hey Mel I didn't expect to see you today." She said honestly, Jim had definitely said that she wasn't coming in.

"Oh wild dogs couldn't Keep me away, I've already had way too much time at home and I'm fine although me and Jim do have some news." Melinda said as she started to place things from a box onto the shelves.

"What kind of news?" Delia asked still looking at Jim confused, this morning Jim had said Melinda hadn't had any sleep and now she was bounding around the shop without a care in the world.

"Well when I went to see the doctor 2 weeks ago we found out that I was pregnant, I was terrified at first but I went back yesterday and everything is fine." She finished but never looked up or made eye contact with Delia, she was waiting for her reaction first.

"Oh that's wonderful Mel but that means you need to slow down a bit you know, you can't be lifting loads of heavy boxes or gallivanting around without telling people." Delia replied sounding genuinely happy for the couple but also so concerned for her friends well being.

"She knows trust me, what she hasn't told you is that the doctors are concerned about her blood pressure already and she has to go for blood tests every other week because she is anaemic. There is no way I'm letting her work overtime and I am picking her up everyday and meeting her for lunch." He finished half telling Delia, half directing his intentions at Mel so she knew that he was quite serious.

"I don't blame you Jim and I'll keep an eye on her too." She replied.

"I can hear you, and I am not that bad." She said walking over to her husband.

"You need to get to work, I'll be fine and I will see you at lunch." She said before pecking him on the lips and practically pushing out of the door.

"See you later Jim." Delia called laughing slightly but she didn't expect an answer as he was already half out the door.

"So a baby, do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?" She asked.

"Nope and I don't know if I want to. Jim definitely wants it to be a surprise and I think it would be more fun that way but then it would be a rush to decorate the spare room. Did you know with Ned?" She asked curiously.

"No, me and Charlie wanted it to be a surprise and we just decorated the nursery in Mutual colours then added little bits once he was born." She replied.

"What will your mum say when you told her?" Delia asked.

"Well it's funny, I haven't got around to telling her yet not sure how she will react you see." Melinda said trying to brush the subject under the carpet but, like Jim she was having none of it.

"Melinda, how can you not tell her. She will be over the moon when she finds out she is going to be a grandmother, what are you worried about?"

"It's just she wasn't that good with me and well if the baby shares my gift she might not want to be around anymore and I don't want to do that to my child. I know how it feels to be left by someone who is supposed to love you and I guess I just want to protect my child from that."

Delia paused for a few minutes pondering how to respond. She hadn't even though about the child having the same gift as Melinda. Eventually Delia brought herself to answer.

"Melinda it shouldn't matter, she's your mother and she will be that baby's grandmother and if she lets something like that get in the way then when the baby is born she doesn't need to come and visit but if she loves you and the baby like she should it shouldn't matter." Delia said comfortingly.

"Yeah I suppose you're right. Anyway I have a load of paperwork to do from not been here for a few weeks and since you and Jim won't let me do anything could you bring some of the boxes up for me to inventory?" She asked nicely.

"Of course." she smiled before going to retrieve the boxes.

Melinda smiled to herself, she was pleased that everything was beginning to fall into place, she was back at work, the nausea tablets seemed to be working, she hadn't seen the ghost all day and she was starting a family with the love of her life. Nothing could ruin this anymore.


	13. Chapter 13 Beth's surprise

Hey everyone thanks again for reading this far. I would like to get some name ideas for the baby but I'm not sure if it will be a boy or girl so suggestions for both would be great!! Keep reading and enjoy this chapter. Please review if you feel like it too :-)

Chapter 13: Beth's surprise

Melinda had now been back at work a week and she was feeling better than she had in ages. The nausea tablets had worked wonders and now she was keeping food down, work was going brilliant and Jim had even let her drive to and from work a few times, but not on her own. The ghost had only paid a short visit but this time he didn't have the desired effect on Melinda. Things seemed to be looking up. Melinda had only one task left and that was telling the parents.

She had been putting it off since last week and now Jim had finally decided to take the lead and invite both Beth and Faith around for dinner. His mother was going to have to stay overnight too as she lived farther away. He had yet to tell his wife of the plans he had made for the weekend and was slightly nervous.

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That evening Melinda arrived home from work to find that Jim was already in the kitchen cooking. The dining table was neatly set for 2, the candles were lit and there was a bunch of red roses where Melinda sat. At first she thought that Jim was just been incredibly sweet, that was until she walked into the kitchen and saw the look on his face.

"Jim what did you do?" She asked rolling her eyes.

At first he didn't answer but he stare drilled him down until he cracked.

"Ok, ok but you can't shout, throw anything at me or be violent towards me in any way." He replied knowing that when he told her he was probably going to get his ass kicked.

"Jim.." She persisted.

"Well I may have, kind of invited my mother and your mother over for dinner tomorrow night so we can tell them the news." He said it as quickly as he could and curled his face waiting for a response. He could feel her mood change.

"What are you joking Jim, you better be joking." She said as she walked towards him, her voice slightly raised.

"No but before you kill me I just thought it would be easier, we can tell them together. They are going to find out at some point anyway so it may as well be tomorrow." He said again holding his arms out in front of his face to protect it from Melinda's swipes with the tea towel.

Eventually she calmed down and stopped hitting him, instead he received the occasional shot of daggers from across the room whilst he prepared dinner. This didn't worry him. If he gave her a few minutes to cool off and let the news sink in then he knew she would be fine. They could eat dinner together and have a night in watching scary movies that he had rented from the store. He loved to watch scary films with his wife because they always made him feel needed, she faced ghosts everyday but one film about them and she was wrapped in his arms, pretty ironic really.

"Mel foods ready so I'm going to bring it out in a minute." He called through whilst he put the finishing touches onto the meal.

There was no reply but he didn't really expect one, it would take at least a few minutes of apologising and puppy dog eyes to get her to speak to him again but he could pull it off.

He picked up the plates from the kitchen surface and walked into the living room wearing his best 'I'm really sorry' face but when he saw Melinda his expression changed immediately and he dropped the plates on the floor in a mad rush to reach his wife.

"Mel, Melinda can you hear." He desperately called to his wife as she lay pale and motionless on the floor, her hand clutching her stomach.

There was no response from Melinda so Jim immediately called for an ambulance. He was pretty sure that, this time the ghost had nothing to do with her current predicament and it made everything that little bit more scary.

In the 10 minutes it took the ambulance to arrive at their house a whole array of thoughts passed through Jim's mind and they went from just bad to horrendous. He checked her pulse and kept talking to his wife throughout the 10minute period, she only slightly moved her hand or flickered her eyelids in response. He couldn't wake her fully.

When the ambulance arrived everything felt like a blur. Melinda was immediately hooked up to some drips and placed on a gurney inside the ambulance. The paramedics were muttering things to each other, things that Jim would usually understand but at the moment he just couldn't comprehend anything, all his attention was on his wife and unborn child.

He was now stood in the hospital corridor pacing up and down, he had called Beth, Faith and Delia to let them know that Melinda had been taken ill. His mother was on her way down so she was going to come straight to the hospital and Beth set off to the hospital as soon as she put the phone down. Delia been the only one to know about the baby asked if it was ok but Jim couldn't answer. She could tell he was upset by the breaking of his voice. Delia had offered to come down and sit with him but he declined her offer saying he would call when he found anything out.

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"Jim how is she." The familiar voice of Melina's mother came from the end of the corridor.

"I don't know, they haven't told me anything yet and she has been in there nearly an hour." He replied anxiously. He was still pacing the corridor like a lost sheep.

Beth took a seat on one of the chairs provided and just sat watching Jim pace, she knew that her daughter had found a good one in Jim she saw the way he looked at her every time he saw her and she saw the worry in his eyes now.

"Jim you should really sit down, pacing won't do you or Melinda any good." She said calmly hoping to entice Jim to sit down.

"I can't it down, I feel restless. I can't sit down knowing that Melinda is in there been poked and prodded by doctors and nurses and all I can do is sit out here and wait for them to finish." He replied now facing the floor.

"What happened I mean why did she just collapse is she ill?" Beth asked curiously.

Jim paused for a while as he processed the question and thought about how to answer. He needed to tell her, she was going to find out anyway when the doctor came out and explained everything. He was pretty sure that it was the pregnancy that had caused her to faint.

"Well you know we invited you around for lunch tomorrow?" He asked.

"Mmm." Beth replied gesturing for him to continue.

"Well we invited you around to tell you that you are going to become a grandma, Melinda is pregnant but there might be something wrong and no one has come out to tell us anything." Jim finished and looked at Beth attempting to read her reaction from her face.

He studied her face for around 5 minutes before she finally opened her mouth to say something.

"Is the baby ok Jim, is Melinda going to be ok?" She asked, now sounding even more worried for her daughter and future grandchild. He was surprised at her reaction but under the current circumstances ghosts where probably the last thing on her mind. If everything was ok they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

"I really don't know." He replied and finally took a seat next to Beth waiting for some news. His mother would be arriving soon and he only hoped that someone would come out at enlighten him on the situation, the waiting was driving him mad.

Sorry for the cliff hanger will update soon I promise!! Please feel free to review : - ) and put in name suggestions just in case ;-). Thanks for reading and I will get on with the next chapter shortly.


	14. Chapter 14 A close call

Hey glad you all enjoyed the last chapter, wasn't going to do it as a cliff hanger but I ran out of time.

Thanks for all the fantastic reviews they are really appreciated and I hope that you will enjoy this chapter and may be review it too!! Happy reading :-)

Chapter 14: A close call

The door to Melinda's hospital room opened and a tall, grey haired man walked out, his face showing no expression. Before he even had the chance to open his mouth Jim had jumped out of his seat and was stood in front of the man.

"How is she?" He asked the worry showing in his voice.

"Stable, we aren't quite sure exactly what caused the problem but she really needs to take it easy." The doctor replied still no expression on his face.

"What about?" He could barely speak for fear of the answer, "What about the baby?" He asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"The baby is alive, we have established a stable heart beat and Dr Jenson has been paged, once we have done a few more tests we will have a better idea of what the problem is but we will need to keep a close eye on your wife and baby." The doctor finished he was now looking pretty serious as if to make himself clearer.

"Can I go and see her, I mean can we go and see her." He asked including Melinda's mother.

"Yes you can but she is still resting at the moment, it is really important that she doesn't move too much and she needs plenty of rest so you can't stay too long." The doctor replied.

Beth nodded but Jim wasn't satisfied, he wasn't going to leave his wife in the hospital, he understood that she needed rest but he knew that she wouldn't sleep without knowing he was there.

"Excuse me Dr but I would like to stay with my wife, I'm not going home and leaving her here alone, she is probably scared and extremely worried about the baby and I need to be with her so I'm not going to stay a short time, I will be staying all night." He replied trying not to come across as rude, but as concerned however the doctor didn't look impressed.

"Alright then but only you are able to stay overnight, she isn't really up to many visitors so Mrs Gordon you will have to leave in about an hour." The tall doctor stated and when he received an agreeing nod from Beth he allowed the pair to enter Melinda's room and then hurried off down the corridor.

When Jim and Beth entered Melinda's room they were surprised by the amount of machines that were in the room. When she had been admitted after collapsing a few weeks ago there had been nowhere near the amount of wires and drips around. Even though they were used to hospital machinery they were still taken aback by Melinda.

She was lying in the bed with her eyes lightly closed. Her hair fanned out across the back of the pillow but she looked so small in the bed, it appeared to swallow her. Her usual rosy complexion was almost as with as the sheet that covered her and light bags could be seen under her eyes. Everything 

about this picture showed how drained she was and Jim just wanted to hold her and make everything better. He felt tears pricking the back of his eyes but he managed to hold them back, he didn't want to let it out in front of Beth. He could see that she was also extremely worried for her daughter, even if she would never admit the full extent.

Beth stood just in the doorway facing Melinda whilst Jim went and took a seat next to the bed. He took her hand lightly in his and held to his face careful not to knock the drip that was resident in the centre. He hands were cold but she always had cold hands. Jim kissed her hand then placed it back onto her stomach where it was comfortably resting before.

"Hey Mel honey, you're ok. I love you." He whispered softly into her ear, he knew that she wouldn't wake up yet because of all the medication but that didn't matter, she could hear him he knew she could.

Beth just stood and watched as Jim sat with her daughter and interacted with her. She had never found anyone who could love her in that way and was glad that her daughter had managed to find the near perfect man but she found it difficult to watch.

She walked over to her daughter's bed and whispered something in her ear which Jim didn't quite catch then headed for the door.

"Beth are you leaving so soon?" Jim asked noticing her dash for the door.

"Yes I need to get home but tell her I came by and let me know if anything happens." She replied then left the room pretty quickly.

Jim just shrugged off Beth's strange behaviour. She had never been good around Melinda, especially when she was ill or spirits were involved. May be the ghost was around and it had caused Beth to get one of her headaches, she was in a hospital there were a lot of spirits about. He also wondered what she had whispered in Melinda's ear it was very odd.

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Jim must have fallen asleep on the edge of Melinda's hospital bed as he awoke to the sound of his mother whispering his name and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Jim, Jim It's your mother wake up. Is Melinda alright she looks pale." Faith whispered and took a seat next to Jim as he aroused from his sleep.

"Wh..what. What time is it?" He asked staring at his mother not too sure how long she had been there.

"Its 9pm I managed to arrive quicker than I thought, got the express train." She replied staring straight into Jim's eyes.

"Oh right, good." He said realising that he had only been out around 10minutes.

"Melinda should be waking up soon." He stated.

"She looks awful, what's wrong with her, is she going to be alright?" Faith asked now staring at Melinda's small frame lying almost perfectly still in the bed. The only movement was that of her chest moving up and down as she respired.

"The doctors have done some tests. Look mom Melinda is pregnant but something might be wrong." He replied sincerely trying immensely hard to prevent his voice from cracking. When he spoke about the baby it choked him up a little.

It took a while for Mrs Clancy to process the last statement but her reaction was appropriate.

"Ok well that's good, is the baby ok Jim, do they know what's wrong?" Faith asked interested and concerned.

Jim just shook his head, he didn't know if the baby was ok, he didn't know what was wrong and he didn't know what he could do to help.

Faith just nodded and briefly put a supportive arm on her sons shoulder before leaving the room, she had told Jim she needed to get some air and a coffee.

Minutes later Melinda moaned softly as she began to awake and the affects of the drugs wore off. At first she couldn't see or hear anything, everything was just a blur, her vision a mesh of colours, sounds a muffled voice. She wasn't sure where she was and started to panic, she could feel herself gasping for air but she felt empty then she felt someone grab her arms, he touch was familiar.

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Jim heard Melinda's soft moan and quickly turned her attention to her. He spoke softly to try and entice her to open her eyes but she seemed to be struggling a little.

He noticed her breathing pattern change slightly and then suddenly it became erratic, her monitor started to beep as her pulse increased and he knew that he had to calm her down so he climbed onto the bed and held onto her arms slowly talking to her, trying to get her to calm down. He pressed his chest against hers in an attempt to get her to mirror his breathing.

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Melinda felt the contact of the figures chest against hers and instantly realised that Jim was with her, she tried to listen t his words but could only make out the odd one. She felt light headed and knew that she needed to regulate her breathing so she tried to breath in time with her husband who held her close. She just wanted to open her eyes and see his face but she couldn't.

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His technique seemed to be working and her breathing slowed down to a regular level. He ran his fingers through her hair and continued to whisper in her ear until she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hey, you're alright Mel I'm here. You scared me a little there." He said as she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"What happened, I couldn't open my eyes Jim, I couldn't move." She said her voice wispy but fear showing through.

"It's ok now Mel, the medication hadn't fully worn off so you started to panic." He replied softly.

Jim climbed off the bed and placed a kiss on Melinda's cheek. She was now looking around the hospital room at all the machinery and drips that were connected to her then memories of what had happened flooded back to her.

"Jim the baby, is it ok?" She asked remembering the unbearable pain she had felt in her stomach earlier in the evening.

"For now yes, Dr Jenson should be coming to visit soon but for the moment I have no idea what caused you to collapse or if there is anything majorly wrong." He replied honestly, there was no point in lying to her because she would figure him out straight away.

Melinda just nodded then held onto Jim's hand tightly. The couple stayed like this for a while and Melinda seemed to be drifting back to sleep but then she said something.

"Jim was my mother here earlier?" She asked curiously.

Jim nodded, "Oh huh."

Melinda's eyes widened and she became even paler, "Ok." She gulped.

"What Mel, what's wrong? What did she say?" He asked.

Melinda took a deep breath, how could she explain what her mother had said to Jim.

Ooo I am mean lol another cliff hanger, I have a good idea for this next bit so keep reading and keep those reviews coming!!


	15. Chapter 15 Facing the truth

Hey everyone thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I didn't want to keep you waiting too long for the next bit because I hate not knowing what will happen next. Thanks for all the great reviews they are appreciated so much so keep them coming please!!

Chapter 15: facing the truth

Thoughts whirled around in Melinda's mind, now that she knew that she hadn't imagined her mother's words she was scared, scared for her own life and for the baby's life too. She knew that once she told Jim he would worry straight away but there was nothing he could do, there was nothing anybody could do.

When her mind resurfaced from the inner depths she looked over to Jim who was still waiting tentatively for an answer. She took a shallow breath and let it out before beginning to speak. Jim could tell from her body language and sudden nervous disposition that what she was about to say wasn't something small or family related.

"Ok Jim I am about to tell you but you have to promise you won't over react, you can't worry because I need you to be strong." She said her voice filled with both strength and fear.

"Alright Mel, I'll try my best, I promise." Jim replied nerves showing in his voice. This must be something pretty serious.

"When I was a child the man came for me, my mother knew him and he tried to kidnap me because he believed my gift could help create a doorway between the living and the dead." She started, looking directly into Jim's eyes the whole time.

"He was insane and got taken to an institute 15 miles from here, but shortly after he was released he died, murdered by his own wife." She looked up at her husband again to try and judge his reaction but he kept his face blank so he wouldn't put her off.

"As a ghost he kept appearing to my mother trying to get at me but he failed. Now that I'm older and pregnant he has been awoken, storing his energy for the last 20 years so when the baby is born he will be powerful enough to get at the child and at my weakened body." Melinda finished, her voice full of fear, the story was so unbelievable that it was difficult for her to comprehend but her mother wouldn't have lied about something like that.

Once she had finished speaking Jim didn't respond for a few moments, he was taking in the whole thing. Getting his head round the ghost thing was a bit of a challenge so this was pretty darn difficult to understand. One thing he was sure of was that he was not happy about this situation and he was going to find away to help his wife, even if it meant dying himself and kicking the spirits ass.

"Jim, I... " She said her voice breaking as tears of fear began to escape from the back of her eyes. Jim saw that Mel was crying and pulled Melina into a warm embrace.

"Mel it's ok, everything will be ok you're strong and I wont let him get to you." He whispered as he held her.

His words instantly comforted her, even though there wasn't much he could do about the ghost she knew that he meant every word he said. He really would do anything to make sure that the ghost didn't harm her or the baby.

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"Good evening Melinda, I didn't expect to see you back here so soon." Dr Jenson said as she approached Melinda's bed and examined her chart making um-ing noises as she read.

"Dr. Jenson is the baby going to be ok, no one has told us anything." Melinda asked. She attempted to sit up but was greeted by another, smaller pain in her stomach so she stuck with the lying position she was currently in hoping that no one noticed her failed attempt.

"Well the baby has a strong heartbeat which is an extremely good sign but I will need to do another ultrasound to see if there are any major problems, you wouldn't just collapse with stomach pains for no reason and because it is still early in the pregnancy we need to check everything over carefully." The blonde doctor replied as she pulled her hair into a ponytail behind her head.

Jim looked at his wife and gave her a supportive squeeze on her hand. Melinda smiled at her husband and squeezed his hand back.

"Right, let's get you prepped for the scan." Dr Jenson said with a smile. She always seemed to be smiling which was surprising the amount of hours she seemed to work.

It took several minutes to prepare Melinda for the ultrasound but they managed it.

"Ok you know the drill, this is the cold part." The doctor said as she placed a small blob of jelly on Melinda stomach. Next she ran the camera across Melinda's stomach and began to examine the area.

"Right, there you can see the baby. It seems to be moving as it should but because you are only 11 weeks the foetus has limited movement. The heartbeat is strong so everything looks good with the baby." She explained as she went on to scan the rest of the uterine area.

She moved the camera around a little then stopped on a particular area and wrote something on Melinda's chart. "Ah I think I have found the problem." The doctor said seriously.

"What is it, is Melinda in danger?" Jim asked worriedly.

"Melinda I think that you have developed a fibroid inside your uterus. This is not common in women your age but it can be treated. However we don't recommend treatment during pregnancy because of the risk to the baby." She explained trying to make everything as clear as possible so she didn't worry the couple.

"I will need to monitor the growth of the fibroid to make sure that it doesn't cause any major problems for you during the birth, we wont operate unless it is absolutely necessary. If the fibroid does grow you are at a higher risk of premature labour and may need a caesarean but at the moment you should be fine." The doctor finished, smiling at the couple again.

"Ok, so there is nothing wrong with the baby and I'm ok." She asked the doctor.

"The baby looks good and you are going to be fine too, you should be able to go home in 2 days once we get you hydrated, you really need to drink more fluids and eat more Melinda." The doctor stated.

"I know, I'll try and thank you." Melinda said politely.

"No problem, it is my job." She replied and left the room smiling.

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Beth Gordon was sitting at home in her living room thinking about the ghost that was tormenting her only child. This time avoidance wasn't an option, he was here and he meant business and Beth was pretty sure that she was the only person that could help her daughter, the only problem was she would have to change a habit of a lifetime. She would have to use her gift how she was taught as a child and she would have reveal to Melinda the things that her grandmother never got the chance to show her.

When Beth was pregnant with Melinda she had gotten visions and messages from the other side about Melinda. She knew that her daughter was going to be share her gift but she was told that Melinda would have something extra, something more that meant she would be targeted by ghosts from near and far looking for help or other things.

Mary-Anne had taught Melinda most of what she needed to know about the gift but she hadn't gotten the chance to tell her about the power that she had inside of her, the power that she needed to know how to use and protect. Beth wanted to protect Melinda from the spirits as she believed that in keeping her from using any of her gifts the ghosts would not be able to find her and she wouldn't find out about her further abilities. However as she learnt about ghosts she began to use her ability to help them and word got around in the spirit world that Melinda was the 'one' and she had been told this on many occasions.

Beth had to tell Melinda the full story, she had to go to the hospital and explain why Tom was here and reveal the secret that she had been hiding from her daughter her whole life and hope that Mel would have enough time to figure out how to tap into her potential before it was too late for her, the baby and the earthbound spirits. If she failed life for everyone would never be the same again.


	16. Chapter 16 And so it was told

Thanks for reading the story so far because it is really long and will have taken all of you absolutely ages to get this far. I really appreciate it. I hope you are enjoying the story and will keep reading and submitting those wonderful reviews that I appreciate so much. Been busy with university this week or so, so I haven't had much time to write but I tried to make this one eventful and longer. No more cliff hangers too... may be.

Chapter 16: And so it was told

It was late evening and Melinda was sleeping peacefully in her hospital bed with Jim sitting next to her, his head perched on her chest as he too slept. It had been like this since Mel had been admitted to the hospital, Jim refused to go home for more than an hour or so during the day and at night he refused to leave at all, he wanted to protect her from the ghosts even though he couldn't see them.

The scene was bliss. That was the only word that could be used to sum up the current scene and it seemed that nothing could shake it up. The road to having the family they had always wanted was well and truly on the way and despite all the problems that were apparent at the moment the current scene disregarded everything.

That was until Melinda's mother stormed through the door flustered and almost crying. Two nurses, a doctor and a security guard entered the room shortly after all trying to get Beth to leave as it wasn't visiting time but this was important, she needed to speak with her daughter and nothing was going to stop her this time.

"Melinda, Melinda I need to talk to you." She said desperately as Melinda just stared at her mother in shock, she didn't know what was going on; she had only just woken up.

"It's important and I am only asking for 5 minutes." She said again.

"Look Ms Gordon it is 1:30am, your daughter is not the only patient in this hospital and she needs her rest, you aren't helping." The tall, male doctor said sternly but sympathetically.

Beth looked straight into her daughter's eyes, only breaking away once to meet Jim's gaze. She knew that if anyone could convince Melinda to talk to her it would be him. She also knew that he could get round the staff too. Jim had a way with words that would have rivalled William Shakespeare.

After about 30 seconds of constant staring from her mother and one look from Jim Melinda took in a deep breath.

"Ok mom you get 5 minutes but then you have to go because I need to sleep or I'll be stuck in here for another week." She said sternly, she needed to show that she meant business so that her mother would get straight to the point.

"Ok, I promise." Beth replied and something in her eyes told Melinda that she wasn't here to mess her around, something was going on, something serious.

Jim walked over towards the door where the staff members stood, whispered something in their ears which received a nod from one of them and they all left the room but waited outside.

"Mel, I'm gonna leave you two alone but you really do only have 5 minutes, that doctor means business." Jim informed and he was been deadly serious about the doctor, he was scary.

Melinda just nodded and Jim left the room allowing the two women to talk.

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"You not going to sit down?" Melinda asked pointing at the empty seat by her bed.

"There's no time Melinda I need to tell you about the ghost, I told you that I saw him and that I knew him but I didn't tell you why he was really here." She said, her voice showing the guilt she was trying to mask.

"What... what do you mean?" Melinda replied trying to sound sympathetic.

"Melinda you are more special than you will ever know, I hated you using your gift because I was trying to protect you from it. I knew that the spirits would find you if you used it and I didn't want to lose my little girl." She said, tears now stinging the back of her eyes and her throat as she tried to hold them back.

"Mom I don't understand, what are you talking about?" Melinda asked sounding confused and emotional too.

"You are the living link between the living and the dead. You can do more than just communicate with the dead you can open up the door that allows the dead to walk amongst the living for one last time, you can allow their families to see their loved one and say goodbye." Beth said then paused to give Melinda some time to process the information before continuing.

"Tom wants to use you to allow the dead to walk amongst the living for good, by eliminating you and taking your soul he can use his energy and your gift to allow himself and a few more evil spirits to literally gain life again. He wants to change everything and he can't." Beth cried, now the tears came flooding down her face, she couldn't hold them back and she didn't understand why.

"Mom I don't understand, how can I do this and not know, I don't want to use my gift, I don't want to die and I don't understand why he wants to take my baby." Melinda replied, her voice stressed.

"Melinda I don't know, he wants you dead after the birth so he can take the baby from Jim and raise it as his own to communicate with the spirit world and keep them trapped." Beth finished.

"Look I will do everything I can to keep him away from you and the baby; I won't let him hurt you. I promise." Beth said. Something in the tone of her voice and the way she looked at Melinda told her that she was been deadly serious and this comforted her slightly.

The two sat staring at each other for a moment before the door opened and a security guard poked his head into the room.

"Ok Ms you have had your 5 minutes, it's time for you to leave and let your daughter rest." The man said sternly.

"Alright, I'm coming." She replied and followed the man out of the room, her eyes fixed on Melinda for as long as she could before she was outside the door.

When her mother was out of sight and the staff members had left Jim re-entered the room and sat down beside his wife. He didn't say anything, he took her hand and held it tightly then looked lovingly into her eyes.

"Mel everything is going to be fine, don't worry about it." He said soothingly as he saw the fear behind his wife's enchanting, brown eyes.

She smiled at him as a tear slowly glided down her cheek and onto her lips. She was going to have to tell him at some point but now she needed to try and sleep and she knew that he was willing to let her rest. He loved her so much, that despite him wanting to know what had gone on and if his wife was in danger, he was able to see in her eyes that she wasn't ready to discuss it.

"Good night Jim." She whispered as she laid her head on the pillows still facing him.

"Night honey." He whispered back and kissed her gently on the forehead.

He stayed awake for about an hour, until Melinda had fallen into a sleep before he felt his head getting too heavy. He then lay his head on Melinda's chest and fell asleep too, the scene appeared as it was before the evenings events. Bliss.

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The next 2 days passed by extremely quickly and it was finally time for Melinda to be released from the hospital. She had been put on probation and had to stick to a diet regime to make sure she kept her weight at the appropriate amount and stayed hydrated, but she was free.

Dr Jenson had come by that morning and sorted out all the discharge papers and given Melinda a few more orders to stay off her feet and not work long hours. The next appointment had also been scheduled so that the fibroid could be monitored but according to the specialist it shouldn't pose a problem.

Melinda had told Jim about her conversation with her mother and although he was not best pleased to hear that his wife was going to be murdered by a ghost so that his child could be stolen, he reacted pretty well. He too saw the look in Beth's eyes and he was pretty sure that Melinda would be safe, she would be safe if he and Beth had anything to do with it anyway.

"Ok Melinda everything is in order. You have your dietary instructions, your next appointment and your pain killers that you are able to take if the fibroid give you any problems. Make sure you call me straight away if there is any bleeding or extreme problem. Other than that you are free to go." Dr Jenson said smiling happily as she usually did.

"Aw thank you. No offence but I can't wait to get out of here, into my own home, my own bed." She replied also smiling.

"Good but remember to take it easy and have a safe trip home." She said politely and flashed Jim a smile before leaving them to depart.

"So you ready Mel?" Jim asked whilst hauling a bag of Melinda's things onto his shoulder.

"Definitely." She replied. "Take me home."

Melinda and Jim then walked hand in hand out of the hospital and to Jim's car that was parked right at the front of the parking lot. They now had a lot of work to do to get the house ready for the baby and prepare for what might be coming.

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Ok I hope you enjoyed that chapter and were able to follow all the ideas. It was difficult to write so if you are confused about anything put it in the review and I will reply to you via a message. Thanks again for reading.


	17. Chapter 17 Going under

Hey everyone thanks for reading and reviewing again. I really appreciate it, especially since the story is soooooo long. Sorry I am taking a while to upload each chapter but I like to make it interesting and I have uni stuff to do too so I need to fit writing in at the odd moment. Hope you will enjoy this chapter and please review if you have the time.

Chapter 17 Going under then breaking for air

"Jim, what do you think to this crib?" Melinda asked her husband who was lying next to her in the bedroom.

She had been home just over a week now and was taking it easy as ordered. There had only been one sighting of Tom and she hadn't bothered telling Jim about it because she didn't want to ruin what they had at the moment.

"I think that it's lovely Mel but does the style and design of crib really matter? The baby won't really know any different." Jim replied trying to sound interested in the cribs but he really did believe that the baby would be indifferent.

"Jiimm you're missing the point, I just want everything to be organised for when the baby comes and the crib is a pretty important part so do you think this one or that one?" She asked pointing to 2 pictures of cribs in a magazine.

To Jim they looked almost identical but he played along knowing that Melinda would get upset if he didn't, her hormones were playing up again and she was only 3 months gone, things were only going to get worse for him.

"Ok well I prefer the lighter wood on that one and I like the design too." He said pointing to the crib on the left of the page.

"Me too." She replied smiling. Jim sighed with relief as he had managed to chose the right one and avoid another 'hormonal episode' as he was now calling them.

"You want anything before I go?" He asked. He had started back at work a few days ago and it was his turn for the night shift again.

"No I'm good, you should get going I wouldn't want to make you late." She replied, grateful that she had such a wonderful husband.

"Ok then honey, I'll see you when I get home. Wake you up?" He asked.

"Please. Be safe." She answered.

"Always." He replied then kissed her goodbye before heading off to work and leaving Melinda to sift through her countless baby magazines.

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It was around 2:30am when Melinda found herself awoken abruptly from yet another nightmare, she must have fallen asleep reading because there were magazines strewn all over the quilt and now on the floor. She sat bolt upright and took several deep breaths in a bid to calm herself down. As usual she found herself to be covered in sweat and realised that she was shaking a little. The nightmares were getting worse, they almost seemed real and she knew that there was no chance of her returning to sleep, not until Jim arrived home anyway so she got out of bed and headed down stairs.

A mug of hot chocolate and a good book were on the menu, when she couldn't sleep this amazing duo solved the problem superiorly, at least until her husband arrived home and sent her to bed anyway.

As she waited for the kettle to boil a shiver ran down her spine and she turned around to find yet another sprit stood in her kitchen, dripping with water.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The spirit opened its mouth to answer but no sound came out, the ghost then reached out a hand to Melinda and touched her shoulder causing her to be pulled into a vision.

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_It was cold and Melinda could feel herself floating, when she got her Barings she realised that she was submerged in water. The waves were hitting her hard and she was finding it difficult to keep her head above the water. Her body ached all over as she fought the waves that were constantly working against her but she kept on pushing. In the distance she could see a huge wave coming closer, her body was ready to give in and she could feel her head going under she was ready to give in so as the wave headed in her direction she let herself go under the water and was engulfed by the mass of the ocean. She could feel the life seeping out of her._

Melinda resurfaced from the vision to the sound of the boiling Kettle, her chest felt a little tight and she struggled to catch her breath slightly, she had never felt anything as intense as the vision she just received off that ghost. It must have been so awful.

She turned around and the woman was still standing in front of the fridge, a puddle of water at her feet. She looked so sad and Melinda felt helpless.

"I saw how you died, you drowned. It must have been awful but I can help you now, I can help you cross over if you let me." She said empathetically to the ghost.

"I... I can't." The woman managed to choke, her voice muffled as if she were still under the water.

"Why not?" Melinda asked, concerned.

"He... he won't let us." She said feebly.

Melinda was just about to ask the ghost another question when she heard the sound of the front door closing and jumped slightly, when she looked back the spirit was gone leaving behind just a puddle of water.

"Jim is that you?" She called from the kitchen as she finished making her drink.

"Yeah, how come you are up? The doctor said you needed to rest Mel." He said as he dumped his bag on the side and made his way into the kitchen.

"I know, I was in bed when you left and I did fall asleep but I had another... another dream." She answered her voice trailing off a little at the end of the sentence.

He walked up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing her to rest her head on his chest whilst he kissed her gently.

"Hot chocolate and a book, you couldn't get back to sleep could you?" He asked playfully.

"No I have some pretty scary dreams and you weren't there to protect me. I don't like waking up to an empty bed when I'm half terrified." She replied.

Jim walked over to the fridge to get himself a bottle of water but stopped when he noticed the rather large puddle in front of his feet.

"Mel what happened here? Is the fridge leaking again?" He asked half hoping that it was just a broken fridge, half hoping that it was something else so that he didn't have to attempt to fix it again.

"Well..." She answered.

He gave her a look that meant he wanted her to proceed with the story, he had already figured out that there had been some kind of spiritual encounter by the look in her eyes when he asked about the puddle.

"There was a woman-" She started. "A ghost woman I assume." He asked.

"Yes Jim a ghost woman. She wouldn't tell me her name when I spoke to her but she did show me how she died. I have never felt anything like it, I actually felt myself drowning." She said enthusiastically as she always did when telling ghost stories.

"Woah you drown, Mel that is not something to be excited about." He replied sounding a bit worried.

"I didn't actually drown but I felt what she felt. But she said she couldn't cross over because someone was stopping her then you came in and scared her off." She said sounding a tiny bit annoyed at the 'scared her off' part.

"Well I am sorry Melinda." He replied as he walked over and made a pouting face right in front of his wife.

"You should be." She replied playfully.

"Well you should be in bed but you're not." He joked back putting his arms on her hips.

"Now you're home I can go back to bed but I'm taking my hot chocolate." She added.

"Ok Honey, I will follow you up in 5, just need to lock up and get my bag from the bottom of the stairs." He replied.

Before long the pair were curled up in bed, Jim had his arms wrapped around Melinda, their bodies encircling each other like they were one. In this moment Melinda felt as safe as she ever would, wrapped in her husband's arms all thoughts of the nightmare she had experienced, or the vision she re-lived were completely obliterated from her mind.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter Please, please, please REVIEW and keep reading because the more you read the more I will keep writing. I am going to move the story along faster so the baby will be coming soon and you will find out about Tom and his plans too, I have loads of ideas I just need the time and inspiration to write them down and reviews really help!


	18. Chapter 18 Winter madness

I can't believe that I have written 18 chapters for this story, it doesn't seem like that much and I want to say thank you for reading this far along. I also want to thank those of you who have taken the time to review almost every chapter, you know who you are and it is much appreciated. I will keep writing for you until the story line runs itself out. This chapter is one month on from the last one and it isn't spectacularly eventful but I thought I needed to calm it down for a bit. Ps had problems thinking of a name so this one is pretty random.

Chapter 18 Winter madness

It was now November and the crisp, winter air was beginning to take a permanent residence in Grandview. The leaves on the trees were now in short supply and the whole town seemed to be preparing for the holidays already. Decorations had been put up all over the square, Christmas trees and festive lights and shop windows were littered with tinsel and huge Santa's. So many people seemed to be shopping for gifts already and Melinda felt so behind but she kept assuring herself that it was only the beginning of November and that she still had time.

At the shop business was up, with the holidays fast approaching customers looking for individual and unique gifts for family members was a regular occurrence and so Mel had returned to work almost full time, much to the dismay of Jim and her doctor.

"It's cold in here today." Delia said as she entered the shop ready for the morning opening.

"I know, I think the boiler is on the brink again, I'll get Jim to have a look at it when he comes to check on me at lunch." She replied, knowing that her husband would be in later to check on his wife and baby.

"Ok, I'm gonna go round back and get some of the boxes so I can start displaying some of the new stuff." Delia stated knowing that Melinda wasn't going to be doing any moving of boxes. She already had quite a stomach on her and she was only 16 weeks.

"Oh that would be great, I can go across the street and get us some hot drinks if you want, we don't open for another 10 minutes so I will be back in time." She suggested to her friend, plus she really fancied a good hot chocolate, it was one of her cravings.

"If you're sure that you will be alright then I would love a coffee." Delia replied from down in the basement.

"Of course I'm sure you're starting to worry as much as Jim I hate to think what it's going to be like a few months down the line." She replied laughing a little.

She wrapped herself up in order to brave the cold winter air. Her black, woollen scarf was wrapped as tightly as possible around her neck but still allowed her to breathe, her matching woolly hat was placed neatly on her head to reduce the amount of heat lost, and her matching pair of gloves were also slipped on to keep her hands from feeling the full force of the cold.

"Delia I am off to Village Java now so I will see you in a few minutes, flip the sign to open if I'm not back when you're ready to start." She called down to the basement whilst finishing fastening the buttons on her knee length, red coat.

"Alright Mel, see you in 5." She replied and carried on sorting the boxes in the basement into things that could be brought up for display and things that still needed to be inventoried.

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Over at Village Java it seemed that every other person in the town had decided to go for a coffee at the same time. The queue was almost out the door and Melinda had been standing in it for a good 5 minutes without making any advancement towards the counter. There was some kind of fuss going on at the front but she was too far back to make out what was going on. She tried standing on her tip toes to see over the rather tall gentleman in front of her but to no avail.

"What is going on over there?" She muttered to herself as she craned her head to see if that would give her more luck.

"Just some woman arguing with the manager about the temperature of her cappuccino or something." The man in front of her replied, noticing that she was trying to get a look at what was happening.

"Oh right, can't they just get her another one?" She asked confused about why it was such a problem.

"I'm sure they would have but I think she bought it a while ago and didn't drink it quick enough."

"Oh." Melinda smiled trying to be polite. She had been standing in the queue for over 10 minutes now and was beginning to get a little tired; she wasn't supposed to stand for long periods of time, doctor's orders and she knew that if she didn't get back to the store soon Delia would be wondering where she was.

She was just about to leave when she saw something stood by the exit, when she looked more closely she realised that it was the ghost she saw about a month ago, this time she wasn't dripping with water but she looked both scared and angry. Melinda couldn't help but notice the way she was staring at her, it was like something had changed, the look in her eyes reminded her of Tom's but they were blue, not black.

It would normally have been awkward to talk to the ghost in such a public area without looking completely mad, but since everyone seemed to be distracted by the commotion that was somehow still taking place at the counter she was able to talk freely and no one batted an eye lid.

"I can still help you, can you tell me your name?" Melinda asked the ghostly woman in a whispered tone.

She just stared back pain filled her deep blue eyes but she didn't say anything. It was as if someone was holding her hostage.

"Is someone here?" She asked the ghost hoping that she would get some kind of telling response.

The ghost again didn't do or say anything but this time Melina saw a flash of black in the ghost's eyes and jumped back into another man attempting to leave the store.

"Are you alright Miss?" The young man asked noticing that she was pregnant by the growing stomach she was sporting.

"Oh yeah I'm fine, look I'm really sorry I just lost my balance a bit there." She answered using her quick thinking to explain how she had ended up almost knocking the man flying.

"No problem." He replied then left the shop carrying his briefcase at his side.

When Melinda returned her gaze to where the ghost was she noticed that again, she had vanished unexpectedly and now there was something worrying about her, what did she mean about not been able to cross over and why was she seeing Tom in this ghosts' eyes?

After she had pondered this though for a few moments she noticed that she was getting some very unpleasant looks for a line of people standing behind her. She then realised that she was blocking the doorway and feeling a little embarrassed she made left Village Java and made her way back to the antique store.

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The morning had passed by extremely quickly in what had been a bit of a blur. Since the sign had been shifted to open customers had been in and out none stop allowing neither Delia nor Melinda to stop for a break for more than 5 minutes, they had therefore made an executive decision to close the store for a much needed lunch break.

As usual Jim was on his way over with a packed lunch for Mel to eat, she could see him coming from across the square and the sight of a man in a paramedics' uniform carrying lunch in a brown bag made both her and Delia chuckle a little.

"Ok Mel I am going to go over to Village Java and get something to eat. Give you and Jim some time to talk or whatever you two lovebirds do." She said to her friend smiling.

"Right see you after lunch then."She replied.

"You will." She answered then held the door open for Jim as she left.

"Hey honey." She said as he walked into the shop holding out her lunch.

"Hey." He replied and leant over the counter to give his wife a kiss.

"Everything going ok with the store today?" He asked as they sat down in the basement to eat lunch.

"Mmm yeah, just been really busy." She replied rubbing her head, she had felt a headache coming on for a while and it had finally arrived at the most inconvenient time.

Jim noticed his wife's gesture and immediately looked worried, he had gotten worse since she had been discharged from the hospital for the second time in less than 3 months.

"Jim, I'm fine. I just need to have something to eat, how has your day been?" She asked trying to direct the attention away from her.

"Good, it's actually been surprisingly quiet. You seen any more... _Ghosts_?" He asked, lowering his voice slightly when he mentioned the spirits as he felt that if they heard him they might pay Melinda a visit.

She paused a brief moment whilst she thought about how to answer the question then began to proceed.

"Well I haven't seen any _new_ ghosts but I did see the one that left a puddle in front of the fridge a few weeks ago, I can't understand why she won't cross over. She wouldn't talk to me, it was weird."

"Weird how, isn't seeing the dead generally a weird experience?" Jim asked trying to be funny and failing as usual.

"Jim, I'm being serious there was something different about her, she felt different and her eyes, the way she looked at me reminded me so much of Tom. What if he is doing something to the earth bound spirits so they can't cross over?" Melinda asked sounding really concerned and a little frightened.

"I am sure everything will be alright, you need to stop worrying and relax or you're going to make you're self sick again and it isn't good for the little one either." He replied placing a kiss on Melinda's cheek and a hand on her stomach.

The couple spent the next 15 minutes eating their lunch and chatting about the family, their plans for the house and they were even staring to argue about baby names but before long the lunch break was over and Jim had to return to work, leaving Melinda and Delia to run the shop again.

"Mel see you at 6, and take it easy." He called as he left for the fire house.

"I will, and you be careful too." She responded.

She couldn't wait for the shift to be over, although she wouldn't admit it she knew that Jim and Dr Jenson had been right to advice half days, she was physically drained and couldn't wait to get home.

Sorry not much happened but I felt it needed a bit of a break and I'm trying to move things along. Any ideas are welcome so just write them in a review and please keep on reading...


	19. Chapter 19 New faces and scare tactics

Hello again. Thanks for all the reviews again they are really appreciated and it's great to know that you all like my story! Thank you for reading so far.. Chapter 19 I can hardly believe it. I wonder how many chapters I will write before I conclude this fic... but anyway enjoy this chapter and feel free to comment in any way.

Chapter 19 New faces and scare tactics

A few weeks had passed and the long days at the store had forced Melinda into hiring some extra help, she wasn't keen on the idea at first but she needed a break and Delia couldn't man the store on her own so she was forced to cave.

The girl was nice enough, young, polite and fresh out of college, with a passion for antiques that rivalled Melinda's and a selling technique that Delia could take tips from. She wanted to make some money over Christmas break to travel to Peru before she studied Archaeology at Stanford University in the summer. Melinda did really like the girl but it took some getting used to, especially since a new person was taking over half her work load.

The system had been put in place around 2 weeks ago and apart from the withdrawal symptoms Melinda had experienced at first when she realised she didn't need to be at work, everything was going fine. Mel would go into work for 8:30 and open up with Delia at 9, at 1she would leave when Emma arrived to give Delia a hand until 5. Then Delia would close up and 6 and go home. The system had worked well, including today.

It was now 8pm and Melinda was at home watching scary movies on the sofa equipped with a fluffy blanket and her husband by her side to make her feel safe. The scene was particularly sweet as Jim had his arm around Mel with his hand rested on her stomach.

"Don't go up the stairs, don't go up the stairs." She repeated as she watched the movie causing Jim to chuckle a little to himself.

"No I told you not to go up there." She squeaked as the girl in the movie slowly made her way up the stairs unaware that something was waiting for her up there.

"Mel honey you've seen movies like this before, they always run up the stairs." He said, laughing a little as he watched his wife, her eyes glued to the TV set and she had a blanket held to her face with one hand and the other was clutching his shirt.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed loudly and threw herself at Jim who just let his wife burry her face in his chest. The murderer had just appeared next to the girl.

"Mel it's alright, it's only a film." He said stroking her hair as she refused to turn around and face the television that was still playing in the room.

"I know but it's too scary." She replied sounding genuinely freaked out by the film.

"I will never understand how a horror movie can be more frightening than quite literally seeing the dead but I am going to turn the movie off so you can take your face out of my chest." He said with humour.

Once he had hit the button on the remote and the television screen had turned blank Mel turned to face her husband and smiled sweetly.

"Thank you." She added and kissed him on the lips softly.

"No problem honey, but you know I wanted to see the end of the movie." He joked, he didn't really want to see the end, they all ended the same and Melinda knew it.

"Jim, you know you could at least be convincing." She replied still smiling.

"I am sorry. Do you want anything from the kitchen I'm going to get something to drink?" He asked sweetly.

"Erm... A hot chocolate would be nice, but first I am dying for the loo." She said as she sat herself up.

"Alright then." He replied, moving off the sofa to help Melinda up then heading to the kitchen to prepare the drinks and get himself a beer.

It took Melinda a little longer than usual to get to the top of the stairs as her growing stomach was beginning to look a little more prominent now. People who didn't know her may have thought she was eating a few too many pies but to her friends, family and regular customers it was pretty obvious that she was pregnant.

Once she had reached the top she paused slightly and rubbed a spot on her stomach, it was an odd feeling but she brushed it off as she headed into the toilet to relieve her bladder.

As she stood up to wash her hands she got the feeling again but in a spot slightly to the left. It felt kind of like popcorn was exploding inside her stomach and lightly hitting the surfaces.

"Jim," She called loudly down the stairs and she knew that he had heard her when she heard footsteps running toward her.

"Mel what is it, are you ok?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine, Jim you've got to feel this." She replied as she took his hand and placed it on her stomach where she had felt the movement.

The pair stood like this for around 2 minutes when the baby moved again and for the first time both she and Jim felt it together.

"Was that?" Jim asked shocked and amazed.

"Yeah I think so." She replied with the biggest smile on her face that she could muster.

In fact both of them had huge smiles on their faces and it seemed that nothing could take this feeling away from them.

Melinda had completely forgotten about the hot chocolate that she had been craving just a few minutes ago as the excitement of feeling her baby move had taken over. She now realised how tired she was and decided that it was about time to retire to bed.

"Jim, I feel a little sleepy now so I'm gonna go to bed." She said to her husband who was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her and perched on her stomach.

"Alright honey I've got a few things to sort out for work then I have to lock up so I will come to bed in about an hour." He replied kissing his wife on the cheek as she gently pulled away from his embrace.

Melinda then made her way into the master bedroom, passing the nursery which was definitely still a work in progress, it wasn't up to scratch just yet but they still had time.

It didn't take her long to get into her night clothes and then into the bed but for some reason she just couldn't settle. She was definitely still tired because she was struggling to keep her eyes from closing but she had a feeling of unease and it was this feeling that prevented

She tried to brush the feeling off by lying down in the bed as comfy as her stomach would allow and closing her eyes but to no avail. She then returned herself to an upright position and was immediately startled by the two figures standing at the tip of her bed staring straight at her.

"What do you want?" She said her voice filled with sheer hatred for the dark eyed ghost.

"Nothing except to show you what I can do if you speak to anymore ghosts that ask for your help." Tom replied, the female ghost Melinda had spoken to a few weeks ago was restrained at his side looking so vulnerable, like she was under his spell.

"What... what do you mean?" Melinda asked trying not to show the anxiety she was feeling.

"Let the ghost go, she didn't do anything to her and you said it yourself I am the one you want not the other spirits." Melinda said her voice louder and more convincing than she had expected it to be.

Downstairs Jim had heard the commotion and was on his way into the bedroom when the door was slammed right in front of his face and no matter how hard he pulled or pushed at it the door wasn't opening.

"MEL, Mel are you ok?" He shouted through the closed door desperately.

"Jim I'm alright don't worry." She called back trying not to alarm her husband.

The ghost just laughed to himself, he knew that there was no way that Jim was going to get the door open and now it was time to get down to business.

"Open this door now, this is not your home." Melinda shouted at Tom who still stared at her with the same solid expression.

She could no longer hear her husband banging on the door and instantly became worried by the look on the ghost's face.

"What have you done with my husband?" She screamed at the ghost.

"Nothing... Yet." He replied and then laughed loudly before abruptly disappearing.

The next thing she heard was a loud cry from Jim and then a series of thuds. She felt sick to the stomach she needed to get up, to see what had happened but she felt so dizzy, all she could muster at that second was a loud cry.

"Jim, Jim are you alright?" She called but there was no answer.

She slowly pulled herself off the bed and in a daze, made her way to the door, tears now filling her eyes.

She twisted the handle and opened the door slowly to see Jim standing in front of her and all of a sudden she burst into tears.

"Hey honey it's alright." He said as he took her into his arms.

"I heard... I thought... you fell down the stairs." She sniffled still tearing.

"No I was walking up them and the laundry basket flew down the stairs and nearly knocked me out. I had to avoid it." He replied holding Melinda a little tighter now.

"So you're ok?" She asked.

"I'm ok but I would like to know what is going on." He replied giving his wife a peck on the forehead as she rested in his arms.

They walked into the bedroom and got comfortable in the bed, Jim was lying on his back with his head tilted toward Melinda who was lying on her side. It was more comfortable for her this way.

"So what made you get all worked up like this?" Jim asked, stroking Melinda's hair away from her face.

"It was Tom, the ghost he came and said that I needed to stop speaking to ghosts." She started.

"Yeah that's when I couldn't get into the room so I went down stairs to find a hammer." He added.

"Mmmm and I couldn't hear you knocking so I thought the ghost had done something to you but when I asked him he just laughed and disappeared then I heard the falling." She finished, her voice quiet when she told the story.

Jim continued to stroke her hair and leant in for a kiss. When they broke apart they looked into each other's eyes and smiled sweetly.

"Everything is alright now, you need to get some sleep and I will call your mother in the morning. We haven't heard from her in a while now and I want to see if she has any ideas on how to get rid of this guy." He said lovingly.

"Mmm ok if you insist." She replied.

Then the couple set down to sleep, Melinda fell first and Jim placed one of his hands on her stomach where their baby grew. He let her breathing act as his lullaby as he too slowly drifted off to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20 New information

Sorry I took a while, been writing a psychology lab report and it is really hard and time consuming which I do not like. Thanks again for all the reviews I received for the last few chapters and keep them coming, they give me my inspiration to keep on going and they are much appreciated, hope you enjoy.

Chapter 20 New information

The next morning Melinda awoke bright and early ready to start her shift at the store, today Delia had to be somewhere in the morning so Emma was taking her shift and Delia would finish up later.

"Jim I'm leaving for work, see you after shift." She called to her husband who was still in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Hey Mel be careful, you haven't driven yourself anywhere for a while." He replied as he walked into the hall to give his wife a goodbye kiss.

"I'll be fine now you go get ready for work and _I_ will see you later." She said then placed a hand on his chest and firmly kissed him on the lips.

"Mmm, alright then honey but be safe and call me when you get to the store." He insisted then pulled her back into him for another kiss, this one softer.

"Ok but now I really have to go, don't want to be late or Emma will be waiting outside and it's freezing." She said rubbing her hands together to illustrate her words.

"See you later then Mel, bye little one." He replied kissing Melinda's stomach before finally allowing her to leave for work.

She shuffled into her car with a smile on her face as she saw Jim watching her from the doorstep, it was awful sweet. He watched her until the red Jeep was nothing but a faint blur in the distance. Now he knew to expect a phone call in around 20 minutes then he would phone Beth.

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Right on schedule his mobile phone rang and he answered to the sweet sounding voice of his wife letting him know that she had successfully made it into work with no problems. Now it was time to get to the job in hand before he had to leave for his shift at the fire house.

Jim rustled through pages of the phone book until he found the number he was looking for then started to punch the digits into the phone. He knew that it was still early so he rehearsed his opening sentence over in his head whilst he waited for Melinda's mother to pick up the phone.

_Ring, ring........ Ring, ring......... rin....._

"Hello, who is this?" Beth asked as she answered the phone sounding wary.

"Hi Beth it's Jim I just wanted to have a quick word." He answered rolling his eyes as he realised that he had completely disregarded the line he had been rehearsing in his head.

"Oh... Jim right what about?" She asked sounding a little more relaxed now she knew who she was speaking to.

"Melinda and this ghost, he came back again and Mel is getting really upset, he keeps making threats to harm her and the baby and last night he tried to convince her that I had been thrown down the stairs, have you got any ideas?" He enquired hopeful.

"Look Jim I know I haven't been around much since my visit to the hospital but I'm doing everything I can, I spoke to another spirit, as much as I hate doing so and she agreed to help protect Melinda but I will find a way to stop Tom." She replied sounding more determined than Jim had ever heard her.

"Right thank you Beth, you know you could come by and visit some time, I know you and Mel haven't always gotten along but I know that she would be grateful to have her mother around during the pregnancy." He finished.

"Hmm I will have to check my book to see when I am free but I have to go now Jim, some business to take care of." She replied then the line went dead leaving Jim holding the receiver to his ear bemused.

"Ok then." He said to himself as he realised that Beth had practically hung up on him.

He checked his watch and realised that it was probably time for him to head off for work so he grabbed his bag from the bottom of the stairs, put on his black jacket and grabbed his house keys from the table. Jim then left the house quickly, locking the doors and windows with the keys before climbing into his black vehicle and making his short journey to work.

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"Melinda where do you want this box putting, an old lady just brought it in for inventory?" Emma asked as she carried a rather large box down to the basement where Mel was working at her computer.

"Oh erm just leave it by shelves over there." She replied closing her laptop and pointing to a large stack of shelves towards the back of the room.

"Alright, then I better get back up it is so busy today." She said as she carefully made her way to the back of the room weaving around the other boxes that had been placed in the basement either waiting to be inventoried or put out on display.

"Oh I was going to go up for a bit, you could start logging the items in that box for me though." She answered and pointed to a dusty, old box by her desk.

"Yeah no problem." She replied with a smile before making her way over to Mel's computer and sitting at the desk.

When Melinda reached the top of the stairs she couldn't believe what she saw. Her shop, the shop that had started out as a small antique business only 4 years ago, was now swarming with customers rushing to buy something special for their family at the holidays.

She quickly made her way to the counter and prepared to start serving the small line of customers that had probably been waiting for around 5 minutes.

"Good morning, how can I help?" She asked the first woman in line cheerily.

"Just wondering how much this jewellery box is." She stated.

"Oh let me see." Melinda smiled taking the item from the woman and examining it.

"Hmm I think this one is $35." She said politely.

"I'll take it." She replied taking the box from Melinda's hands and placing the cash in them.

The next hour was a blur, a constant row of customers came fleeting in and out of the shop, some purchasing items and some just browsing and Mel was glad when she finally had 5 minutes to catch her breath and take a seat. She had started to feel a little dizzy during the chaos but with all the people she didn't have time to dwell on it but now it had gotten worse.

"I finished that box do you want me to start putting some of it out?" Emma asked as she appeared at the top of the stairs.

Melinda hadn't noticed Emma come into the room and jumped slightly at the sound of her voice.

"Erm.. no it's alright, take a break, go get a coffee or something." She replied putting a hand to her head in a bid to stop it throbbing.

"You sure?" Emma asked, making sure that her boss was ok, she had noticed her expression and her peaky looking skin.

"Yeah, yeah of course, it's calmed down a bit now anyway and you deserve a break." Mel replied smiling at the young girl. She knew that Emma was only acting concerned but she hated all the fuss and needed some space to shake it off.

"Alright then, I'll be back quick as I can." She replied before leaving the shop, although she did look back a few times to make sure that Mel hadn't changed her mind.

Once the shop was quiet Melinda lay back in her chair and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Her head was killing, the dizziness was still present even though she was sitting down and the baby was moving around a lot causing her to fell a bit sick. She hadn't felt this bad in weeks and just wanted to go home, take a hot bath and curl up in bed with her wonderful husband to make everything alright.

She could have laid in that position for ever but a sudden change in the atmosphere caused her to abruptly open her eyes. In front of her stood the ghost who seemed to be attached to Tom in some strange way.

"_Melinda._" She choked, he voice quiet and frail but audible.

"What, what do you want?" She asked desperately trying to get through to the ghost who she had been unable to help on many occasions.

"_I need you to help me find my husband._"She whispered.

"Ok what was his name?" Melinda asked still holding her head as the room started to spin.

"_Matthew.... Matthew Jones._" She stated before abruptly disappearing with no warning and no opportunity for Melinda to ask questions about the dark eyed ghost.

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Emma arrived back at the shop not long after the ghost had disappeared to find Melinda slumped in the chair.

At first she thought that her boss may have just fallen asleep so she quietly whispered her name but when that did nothing she started to get worried. She pulled out her phone and started cycling through the numbers in the phone book until she reached Jim and dialled his number straight away. This is what she had been instructed to do if anything happened with Melinda, or if Melinda refused to go home when Emma advised her to.

"Hey Jim it's Emma, I think something is wrong with Melinda you need to get over to the shop now." She said quickly down the phone.

"I'll be there in 2 minutes, check her breathing." He said and hung up so he could run to the shop.

It didn't take him long to arrive but by the time he had got there Melinda had woken up but Emma had made sure she was still sitting down as she looked extremely pale.

"Hey Mel you alright?" He asked making his way over to the chair his wife was sat in.

"Mmm, dizzy and really tired." She responded, still sounding a little out of it.

"Ok I'm taking you home I saw how busy the shop was this morning and you are supposed to be taking it easy." He stated, getting on his knees so he was now face to face with his wife.

"I can't go home, Emma can't run the shop by herself, it isn't fair and Delia will be here in 15 minutes anyway." She replied head in her hands.

"Mel you either go home with me now or I take you to see the doctor and check everything over." He said insistently but his voice still loving and calm.

"Fine, but no doctor the baby is fine I can feel it moving." She replied putting her hand on Jim's shoulder to help herself up.

"You ok?" He asked as she fell back a little when attempting to stand.

"Fine, just dizzy it's nothing to worry about." She replied as they both walked out to the car.

Jim went back into the shop to tell Emma to make sure Delia knew what had happened and why she had been left on her own, then he thanked her for calling him before heading back to the car.

"Right honey let's get you home to bed." He said as he fastened his seat belt and started the engine.

"What about your car?" She asked realising that he had to go back to work and his car was at the station.

"I'll take a cab. You still feeling dizzy?" He enquired, concerned about her.

"A little but once I have had something to eat and a nap I'm sure everything will be alright." She said.

Then the couple sat in almost silence as they made the journey home both thinking about the baby and their next visit to the hospital.


	21. Chapter 21 Appointments and surprises

Thanks for all the reviews I have received so far they are really appreciated. Sorry I took a while to upload this chapter, been busy with uni stuff but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 21 Appointments and surprises

It was 1:00 in the afternoon and Melinda was just leaving the shop to get ready for the gynaecologist. She didn't really want to go as she had other things on her mind, like finding the ghost's husband but it was now going to have to wait a while longer.

This time she had to go to her appointment alone as Jim was working and he couldn't get any more time off. Over the last few weeks he had been taking days off frequently to look after Mel and his colleagues had been covering his shift so he owed them one and tonight was going to be busy as it was bonfire night.

"Right Delia I will see you tomorrow." Melinda said as she pulled on her coat ready to leave, she was feeling a little apprehensive and knew that Delia had figured her out by the amount of times she had mentioned the doctor in the last 4 hours.

"You will, good luck with the doctor." She replied from the backroom. She knew that Mel would be going alone to see the doctor today and was instructed by Jim to make sure she actually went.

"Thanks." She called down before leaving the store and climbing into her red Jeep.

She fastened her seatbelt and placed the keys in the ignition, the radio automatically turned on as the engine began to purr. She adjusted the volume on the station and started on her journey to the hospital. Her appointment was at 1:45 so she had around 40 minutes to get there.

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Jim checked his watch, he was on duty but Melinda was still the focal point of his mind. She had never been to one of the doctor's appointments by herself, in fact he wasn't 100 percent convinced that she would actually go without him there to escort her. She hated hospitals and even though she knew she needed a check up, Jim knew that it would be an inner battle to make herself go.

"You Clancy we got a call out on Maden Street you get to drive." Tim said as he tossed Jim the keys to the ambulance.

"Right, we got any more information than that?" Jim said as he ran to the front of the vehicle and hoped into the drivers' seat.

"Some kind of accident with some wood I think, we will have to see when we get there." Tim said as he too hopped into the front of the ambulance and belted up.

"Alright we better get going then." Jim replied then fastened his seat belt and turned on the sirens as the ambulance sprung into action.

Although he knew that his mind needed to be focused on the job in hand he felt himself wondering off every so often, if Tim hadn't of noticed he probably would have forgotten to pull up at the right address.

"Jim can you get me a gurney please." Tim called as he noticed the man on the floor bleeding from his head.

"JIM" Tim shouted this time.

"Oh yeah sorry." Jim replied and ran to get the gurney from the back of the ambulance, along with his bag.

They reached the hospital with the patient with no other problems, Tim drove the ambulance to the hospital whilst Jim rode with the patient. It was difficult for him to get distracted when he was working on saving someone's life.

"Yo Jim what's up man?" Tim asked as he noticed that his friend was still a little distant.

"Mel is going for another scan today and it's the first one I've missed." He replied looking at his watch.

"Look I am supposed to be finished now but I'll take your shift and you can go meet Mel." Tim said patting his friend on the back.

"You're sure?" He asked sounding greatful.

"Yeah course I am, you covered for me loads of times." He replied.

"Thanks Tim I will have to owe you one." He responded before running down the corridor toward the maternity wing.

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Melinda was now waiting in a long hospital corridor to be called into Dr. Jenson's room. Normally she would have Jim with her to distract her attention from her surroundings but today she had no one and there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of spirits in the surrounding area.

"Hey, hey this one can see us." A young, male ghost called to a group of spirits in the room.

Melinda put her head down and tried to distance herself from the situation but she knew that it wouldn't work and the woman at the end of the room was giving her some very strange looks. It was probably because she kept darting her eyes around like she was following something to avoid eye contact with the dead.

"Something in my eye." She smiled at the woman who had been shooting her daggers but the response she got was a look that you give to people who aren't quite there.

A few moments later the woman was called in to see Dr Jenson and Mel was now alone in the corridor with a bunch of dead people.

"_Go away." _ She whispered to a small group of spirits who had all come up to her and started talking at her at once.

"But we need your help, no one else can see us-" Once ghost said.

"Yeah My daughter, you have to find her she-"

"If you help him you can help me to-"A young female interrupted, she had bruises all over her face. "And me" Another ghost said, Mel wasn't sure which one.

"_Look now is not a good time, I am in a hospital waiting to see a doctor and people keep looking at me because they think I'm talking to myself. No one else can see you because I'm talking to a bunch of dead people." _She replied not realising that another woman had walked into the room and was staring straight at her like she was completely nutty.

Melinda didn't bother trying to dig herself out of this one so she just smiled at the woman and was completely relieved when her name was called to go and see the doctor.

She popped herself onto the bed as she had done every other time she had visited and waited for Dr. Jenson to come through with her chart.

"Afternoon Melinda, how are you today?" The doctor asked with her usual smile.

"I'm fine thank you, I've been feeling much better since the last visit." Melinda added with a smile, besides the odd dizzy spell she had been much better.

"Good, no Jim today?" The doctor asked as she pulled her blonde locks back into a pony tail.

"He has to work a double today, bonfire night is always a busy one." She answered sounding a little disappointed that he couldn't be with her.

"Right well it shouldn't take long. I need you to change into a gown and then I can take your weight and measure your stomach, then I will do an ultrasound." She said professionally.

Melinda nodded and went behind the screen to change into the blue gown that she had been given by one of the nurses. Normally it wouldn't have taken her long but she wasn't expecting to be greeted by one of the spirits that had been talking to her earlier.

"_I'm a little busy right now go away." _She whispered harshly to the ghost.

"I know but you have to help me find my daughter." The ghost answered still insistent.

"_Not now, I will help you later but you need to go away." _She replied this time a little calmer. This approach seemed to work as the ghost disappeared but she knew that the doctor had probably heard her talking to 'herself'.

"Melinda is everything alright?" Dr. Jenson asked after hearing a faint whisper, it was taking longer than usual.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine just had trouble undoing my jeans." She lied as she appeared from behind the screen smiling.

"Still not used to the extra few inches yet." She laughed as she stepped onto the scales the doctor had readied for her.

Dr. Jenson laughed a little as she scribbled down the measurements on the scales.

"Ok that's fine now you can get changed again then we can take a look at the baby." She smiled then referred back to Melinda's chart.

It didn't take long for Mel to redress as there was no ghost there to greet her this time. She hopped onto the bed and lifted her top ready for the next part.

Dr. Jenson had left the room a few minutes ago and still hadn't returned and quite frankly Melinda's stomach was getting cold. You would think that hospital rooms would be warmer, especially with patients wondering around in flimsy gowns.

A few minutes later the door opened and Melinda was just about to ask where the hell she had been when she noticed her husband standing at the door beside Dr. Jenson.

"Jim you're here, how come you're here?" She asked emotional.

"Tim took my shift." He replied smiling as he walked over to the bed and took her hand.

"Ok you too, let's get this started." She said as she placed the cold Jelly on Melinda's stomach. This still made her jump slightly and she was expecting it, she probably wouldn't ever get used to the cold sensation.

The camera was placed onto her stomach and moved around until the baby was an image on the screen.

Mel and Jim were smiling at each other as they looked at the screen harmoniously with pride and joy. There baby was growing nicely, they could see it moving and they could hear it's heart beating. It was amazing.

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The couple walked arm in arm to the car park where they had the uneasy task of finding Melinda's car in the mesh of metal that was in front of them.

"I can't believe you don't remember where you parked the car." Jim said as he scoured the car park for any sign of the Jeep.

"I got distracted, then-" She stopped as the same ghost appeared in front of her for the third time in the same day.

"Mel what is it?" Jim asked noticing his wife's glance fixed on seemingly nothing.

"Shhhh." She replied as she spoke to the ghost.

"I can tell you where your car is but you have to promise to help me." The ghost said seriously, she was trying to bargain Melinda for help.

"Ok, ok what's her name?" Melinda asked, she already had to find one ghosts husband so she might as well do this at the same time. The percussions of her actions didn't bare thinking about, just because the dark eyed ghost didn't want her to help spirits doesn't mean that she could just stop, it was what she did and she would have to face the consequences.

"Her name is Ava Brooke Prichard." The female spirit replied.

"Ok now where is my car?" She asked.

The spirit kept her word and led Mel and Jim to where the vehicle was parked. Now she had to tell Jim that she was helping two ghosts and knowing Jim he was not going to be impressed. He hated how much stress spirits put her under especially when she was carrying a baby and usually he got over this but with the threats from Tom he was not going to be happy.

She wasn't going to tell him now she would wait until they were home in a hot bubble bath together.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it took me so long to upload and sorry not much happened but Mel now had two ghosts to help out and an evil spirit to deal with. Future chapters promise to be much more eventful. Thanks for reading and please REVIEW.


	22. Chapter 22 Taking a chance

Sorry I haven't uploaded in over a week I have been really really busy with uni work and then I saw the episode of Ghost whisperer and lost the will to carry on writing because I was upset. Now I am back with new ideas so I hope you enjoy this chapter and continue to read and review.

Chapter 22 Taking a chance

Melinda awoke suddenly and sat bolt upright in bed, she placed a hand to her forehead to find she was covered in sweat. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as memories of her dream flickered in and out of her mind causing her to shake unknowingly. Seconds later Jim joined his wife in a seated position and placed an arm lovingly around her, pulling her close to him to try and calm her down.

"Mel you alright?" He asked, concerned for his trembling wife.

"Mmmm, bad dream that's all." She replied as she leant further into Jim's chest longing for the safety that she felt when she was in his arms. He lovingly caressed her hair.

Normally Jim wouldn't have been so worried about a nightmare, he had know her to have a fair few but since the visit to the hospital 2 weeks ago Mel had been a little off. He knew that she was helping someone, and initially he had been ready to confront his wife and express his concern but it wouldn't have helped the situation. He figured she would tell him when she needed to, or he would bring up the issue when the time was right and now was the right time to bring up the ghost in conversation.

"Honey, I know you're trying to help someone and it's ok, is that what the dream was about?" He asked again, keeping his tone calm and loving his hand still caressing her face.

At first Melinda didn't answer, her dream had been so vivid, so terrible and she was scared, scared of telling Jim, scared of helping the ghosts and scared of it actually coming true. She didn't know what to do and even though she knew that Jim would be there to support her no matter what, she was genuinely terrified.

"Mel." He said again, this time a little worry showing in his voice as he pressed her slightly for an answer to his question. He knew that it must have been something pretty bad as it was taking her so long to reply.

"Jim, I.... I'm scared. I crossed over the ghost that drowned last night but I can't.... the other one...... Tom, he keeps, he..... he knows." She tried so hard to hold back the tears, she tried so hard to tell Jim about the dream, about what Tom had done but she couldn't get the words out before the tears came bounding down her face.

"Hey, hey shhhhh it's alright." He whispered soothingly in his wife's ear still caressing her face with one hand, the other placed on her stomach as if he was guarding their growing child.

The couple lay like this for a good 10 minutes Jim rocking her slowly back and forth in a bid to calm her down. Eventually the sobs subsided and Melinda managed to gain some composure. She knew she couldn't fall back asleep after the dream and so attempted, for a second time to explain everything to her husband as he was still patiently waiting for an explanation.

"Honey you ready to tell me what happened?" He asked noticing that she had stopped crying and trembling.

Mel sniffled slightly then began to tell Jim about her nightmare. "I was walking in the woods looking for the ghost's daughter and I saw her but Tom came. He told me that he knew about the others and that I was going to pay."

Jim nodded at Mel to proceed holding her close as he listened to her every word intently.

"Suddenly I was at the hospital looking down on my body, you were angry and the baby was gone. Tom... he managed to take the baby... W..what if it's true. Jim what if this wasn't a dream but a vision." She choked, this time successfully holding back the tears but failing to keep the fear from surfacing.

"Melinda there is no way I am going to let that happen to you, Tom isn't going to get near you or our baby I promise I wont let it happen." He said as he turned to face his wife, still holding her tightly in his embrace.

If he was honest he was just as scared as Melinda, it wasn't because he himself could be in danger, but because his wife and unborn child were being held at ransom by an angry malicious spirit and there was nothing he could do about it. He just had to stay strong, there was no way he could allow Mel to know that he was nervous about Tom or she would never rest.

"Okay Mel you need to rest, it's still late and we both have work in a couple of hours." He said placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I know but I don't think I can, what if I have another dream?" She asked sounding like she was about to burst into another flood of tears. The pregnancy hormones were acting in overdrive lately.

"It's alright, I'm going to be here the whole time, if you have another dream just wake me and I'll sit with you. Just try and sleep." He answered kissing her on the lips and placing both hand on her stomach as if to remind her about the baby.

She knew Jim was right so she gently pulled away from him and lay on her side with her back to Jim, it was the most comfortable position now that her stomach had gotten bigger. Jim rolled over onto his side too, he was facing Melinda's back but wrapped his arms around her, resting them instinctively on her stomach. He pulled her close to him and listened as she drifted off to sleep before he too dozed off.

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The next morning Jim awoke to find his wife was no longer lying next to him as she had been when they had fallen asleep. He listened carefully and could hear an unsettling noise coming from the bathroom. He got himself out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair as he neared the bathroom door. He now realised that the sound he was hearing was his wife throwing up down the toilet and he hurried into the room to make sure she was ok.

"Mel." He said empathetically as he bent down to her level and pulled back her hair into his hands.

She couldn't answer as she was still hunched over the toilet puking her guts up uncontrollably, she hadn't throw up this much since the beginning of the pregnancy and at almost 6 months the vomiting should have subsided, especially since she had been taking the anti-nausea tablets as instructed.

Once she had finished Jim helped his wife to her feet and over to the sink where she could rinse her mouth of any bad taste that had been left. She gave him a reassuring smile as she finished brushing her teeth and wiped the outside of her mouth with the sleeve of her free hand, the other hand was wrapped firmly around Jim's waist for support. She did feel a little light headed and the last thing she needed was to worry Jim by fainting. He didn't let on but he could tell that she was feeling weak by the tightness of her grip on him.

"You feel any better?" Jim asked once Mel had finished cleaning up.

"Yeah I do but now I don't have much time before I have to leave for work." She replied still holding on to her husband.

"Mel do you think it's a good idea to go to work this morning, you don't look well." He replied knowing too well what the answer would be.

"Jim I promise I'll be fine, plus I'm sure Delia will call you if she thinks I'm not well enough." She answered sweetly and spun around to face her husband, moving both her arms so she was hanging around his neck.

Jim sighed slightly as he realised there was no way he was going to get around his wife, the way she was looking at him at that moment caused him to melt, she could have literally gotten away with anything.

"Ok, I'll meet you for lunch when you finish." He replied pecking his wife softly on the lips.

"Of course." she replied playfully then started to edge Jim out of the bathroom slowly.

"Mel what are you doing?" Jim asked confused.

"I am going to take a shower and you are going to make breakfast." She said continuing her playful nature.

"I am, am I?" He replied, responding to her playful manner.

"Hmm, I have a craving for some blueberry pancakes." She said as she reached in to turn on the shower.

"Alright then, I'll see you in the kitchen in 15 minutes, don't be late or the pancakes will be cold." He joked as his kissed his wife passionately, said a brief bye to Mel's stomach, and exited the bathroom for the kitchen.

Melinda smiled to herself fully appreciating the wonderful man she had managed to marry. It did help that he had fallen as madly in love with her as she had with him and every day she realised how lucky she was.

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It had been an hour since breakfast and both Jim and Melinda were at work. As expected Jim had notified Delia about this morning's events and now she was watching Melinda like a hawk, every time she stood up, even if it was just to stretch her legs Delia glanced in her direction.

"Mel you've been on your feet a while now, why don't you let me take over on the counter and you can finish up logging the items into the computer." Delia suggested conscious of her friend's fragile state.

"Delia I promise you I'm perfectly fine, I just haven't been taking the nausea tablets as I thought the sickness would have stopped by now." Melinda replied careful not to hurt her friend's feelings.

"Hmmm alright but I'm taking over in half an hour and you are going on a break." Delia answered.

"I finish in 3 hours anyway and Jim is meeting me for lunch before I go home, I don't need a break, you should go get yourself something from Village Java before I have to leave and it gets too busy." Melinda responded.

"I might just do that, but I will only be 5 minutes, do you want anything?" Delia asked.

"No I'm good thanks." Melinda replied sweetly.

"Alright then see you in a few." She said as she left the store for the coffee shop.

As if on cue the moment Delia disappeared from the shop the ghost from the hospital the other week appeared in front of the counter.

"Did you find her?" asked the middle aged woman.

"I searched on the databases but nothing came up, do you have any more information?" Melinda asked hoping that the ghost would be able to tell her something that would bring her closer to finding the daughter and crossing the ghost over before Tom found out.

"No she ran away 5 years ago, I haven't seen her since. I don't even think she knows that I'm dead and she needs to know what he did." The ghost replied angrily.

"I don't have a lot to go on and if I help you I'm putting mine and my babies life in danger." Melinda said, trying to make the ghost understand that she needed more information so she could help her quickly.

"NO!" The ghost screamed then abruptly disappeared, knocking over a vase as she did.

When Delia arrived back in the store she saw Melinda on her hands and knees using the dustpan and brush and almost dropped her coffee on the floor.

"Mel you shouldn't be doing that, put it down now and step away from the glass."

"I'm fine, although I could do with a hand." She replied, holding out her left arm for some support to get herself off the floor, the extra weight made it difficult for her to manoeuvre as she used to.

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The rest of the day ran smoothly and it wasn't long before Jim arrived to take Mel for lunch as he had promised that morning.

"So what have you got planned today Mr Clancy?" Melinda asked sweetly.

"I don't have anything planned, just lunch on the bench in the square with my favourite person in the world." He replied kissing her sweetly.

"Oh come on you two, take it outside." Delia joked.

"Okay, okay, we're going." Jim responded.

"See you tomorrow Delia." Melinda called as she was led out the door by the guiding hand of her husband.

"You will." She replied, smiling at the young couple who were so much in love. They were going to be such a great family.

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Sorry again that nothing much happened I have been really busy lately as I explained above. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will continue to read. Thanks to all the people who have continued to read and review, and thanks to all those who have added this story to their favourites, it's much appreciated :-)


	23. Chapter 23 Shock Horror

Hey thanks again for reading and thank you for the reviews!! I wanted to update quicker than I have with this one as I have 4 pieces of work to peer assess so I may take longer with the next one but I will find time to write. Not sure how long this story will last but as long as people keep reading I am sure it will continue to a brilliant finale when I reach the end. Enjoy!

Chapter 23 Shock horror

It was late evening and Melinda was alone in the living room watching the most girly films going. At lunch Jim had announced that he had been given the unfortunate task of working the night shift and so Melinda had been left alone for the most part of the evening.

She never said anything but she hated when Jim had to pull doubles as it meant she hardly saw him, and since Tom was around she worried that little bit more about something happening. This is probably why she found it almost impossible to sleep when he wasn't home.

The baby was restless this evening and Melinda decided that a trip to the kitchen cupboard to retrieve some saltine crackers wouldn't go amiss. She slowly got to her feet, using the arm of the sofa to support her extra weight, and plodded into the kitchen carefully avoiding the baby magazines that were strew all over the floor.

She arrived in the kitchen moments later and was greeted by the familiar presence of her latest spirit, she really needed to make a note of her name this time.

"Melinda I need you to help me, you know where she is." The ghost pleaded insistent that Melinda knew her daughter.

"I've tried but I can't find her, the name you gave me isn't coming up in the searches." Melinda replied placing her hand on her stomach showing some discomfort.

"No you don't understand that's not her name, she changed it when she had to go into hiding." The ghost repeated, her light blue eyes showing flashes of desperation as she was seemingly fading away.

"Wait what do you mean, hiding from what?" Melinda asked completely confused, knowing that there wasn't much time.

"Her name is Emma, she works in your shop and you need to tell her that I'm here." The ghost said before she disappeared without intending to. Melinda knew that Tom wouldn't be far behind, she could tell by the way the air turned cold.

Melinda grabbed the phone from the kitchen counter and dialled Jim's number instinctively, she had to warn him that Tom was on his way and make sure that he knew to be careful, Melinda didn't want him getting hurt in all this.

The phone rang once, then again before Tom appeared in front of her sporting an evil grin and an old stare that sent chills down Melinda's spine. Jim's phone went straight to voice mail and so Mel left him a rushed but informative message about the presence that was in the room with her.

"What do you want, why are you here?" Melinda yelled holding her stomach as a shooting pain ran through, it was as if the baby was able to sense the spirit and it hadn't even been born yet.

"I have come to check on you Melinda, I followed your friend to you." He answered eerily.

"Go away." She screamed the pain in her stomach worsening the longer Tom was around.

"You don't get it do you, I can do what I want. Every time you fail to help a spirit cross over I get stronger and every time you do cross someone over you lose a piece of yourself. You need to be more careful Melinda; many people's lives are at stake." He replied laughing darkly as he finished.

"I won't stop helping them, you can't make me do anything." She called back, her voice weakening. She slid herself slowly to the floor, leaning against the counter for support until she felt the cold tiles meet with her rear.

Tom laughed again as he watched Melinda struggle to stay conscious, he could see that she was weakening and this gave him an obscene amount of pleasure, his work here was done and now he had other business to take care of.

The abrupt disappearance of Tom was the last thing Melinda saw before she finally allowed her body to give in to the exhaustion and pain he had caused. Sure enough Jim was on his way home, he had only just missed his wife's phone call and when he heard the tone of her voice on the machine he knew that he had to drop what he was doing and head home, the other paramedics were going to have to handle the rest of his shift.

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Jim burst through the front door not bothering to shut it behind him as he ran to find his wife. She was conscious at this point but hadn't bothered to get up as she still felt weak and didn't want to risk hurting the baby.

"Mel honey are you alright, I got here as soon as I could." He said as he knelt down in front of his wife, instinctively checking her pulse, before taking her head in his hands and kissing it.

He then put a hand on Mel's stomach and whispered something inaudible to her naval, this didn't bother her as she had gotten used to people saying things to her stomach instead of her face, it kind of came with the pregnancy package.

"Are you in any pain?" Asked Jim, he didn't want to get her to stand if she was hurting.

"No not any more, I think I'm alright now it was just Tom's spirit, he's getting stronger." Melinda replied seriously.

"Alright then, let's get you up. Do you want to go straight to bed or shall we watch a movie?" Jim asked, not wanting to demand that his wife went straight to bed he felt that suggesting a second relaxing option gave Melinda a choice.

"Hmmm a movie sounds good." She replied, a smile gracing her lips as Jim helped her get to her feet and guided her to the living room sofa.

"Ok you have a look through the DVD's whilst I prepare you a mug of the best hot chocolate on the planet." He said kissing Mel on the forehead.

"And don't pick one of those predictable chick flicks." He added from the doorway.

"Damn it." She joked putting down the 'Notting Hill'DVD that had been in her hand.

"What film did you have in mind?" She asked, still flicking through their huge movie collection.

"I don't know; something that won't put me to sleep." He called back.

Melinda decided that it would be best to let Jim pick the film, after all if he picked something too scary or too gory she could use him as a huge blockade. She shuffled herself into a comfortable position on the sofa as Jim walked into the room holding two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a blanket.

"Right, what are we watching then?" He asked as he placed the mugs down on the coffee table and joined his wife on the sofa. He placed the blanket neatly around her frame and she lay against his chest.

"Nothing, I thought I'd let you pick since I can't seem to chose anything that isn't girly or for 5 year olds." She replied putting a smile on her husband's face. He was laughing at the sincerity in which she said that last sentence.

"Alright, let's see, we could watch Fight club or... something scary." He suggested knowing that movies freaked his wife out a little.

"Jim you know I always get scared." She replied.

"Yeah but I'll be here to protect you, how can you be scared with me here?" He joked cheekily.

"Hmm I suppose you're right, I do have a big hunky paramedic to keep me safe." She replied, keeping with the joke.

Just as she leant in to kiss him he leant forward and grabbed the Amityville Horror DVD off the coffee table, teasing his wife as she was left hanging.

"Jim...." She pouted.

"Give me a minute; I'm just putting in the DVD, by the way I never asked you about Tom what did he want this time?" He asked as he put the DVD in the machine and joined his wife back on the sofa, allowing her to snuggle into him again.

"Not much really, it was strange, the ghost from the hospital came back too, I know who her daughter is and you'll never guess." She answered, waiting for him to ask the obvious question.

"Who?" Jim asked.

"It's Emma, the girl I employ in the shop but I think something is a little off and I didn't get chance to ask the ghost before Tom made an appearance." Melinda explained.

"Ok, now what about Tom, you think he'll be back again?" Jim asked a little worried.

"I don't know he only shows up randomly, usually after I have had a visit from a distressed spirit and he never really says anything except how he is all powerful. He sends shivers down my spine but one thing I do know is that he is definitely getting stronger." Melinda replied so deep in explanation that she hadn't even noticed that the movie had started playing in the background.

"Alright Mel, we need to keep you away from him, I know easier said than done but the baby is due in 3 months and I just don't want anything to happen to you. I couldn't lose you both." He said as he kissed his wife passionately and placed a protective hand on her stomach.

"You know I love you Jim Clancy." Melinda added.

"That's what I've heard." He replied, kissing her again.

The pair weren't really paying much attention to the movie that was playing in the background. They had even forgotten about the hot chocolate Jim had prepared in the kitchen earlier, so wrapped up in each others' eyes it was like nothing else existed, nothing else in the world mattered.

That moment was perfect; it was too bad that Melinda had to deal with yet another ghost and possibly allow herself to be exposed to the whole town when she told Emma about her mother's ghost. Her only hope was that Emma would take the news well, she wasn't used to helping people that were going to stick around, usually she would help the ghosts cross over and the families would carry on with their lives elsewhere, keeping Melinda's gift a secret. This time was going to be a little trickier.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry again that I took longer than intended to update. Rate and review!!


	24. Chapter 24 The underlying truth

Hey guys sorry it took me a while to update I had a problem with my word processor and had to downgrade to an earlier version of windows. I have also been doing a lab report that needs finishing by Monday but I did try to make this a long one so you had something to read. Thanks for all the reviews so far and please enjoy….

Chapter 24: The underlying truth

The sun had barely made an appearance in the morning sky when Melinda and Jim arose from their sleep. Neither of them had to be at work for a good 2 hours but something had awoken them both and there was no falling back to sleep.

"Good morning." Jim said as he rolled to face his wife and gave her a good morning kiss on her forehead.

"Mmm, Morning." She replied still a little groggy.

She hadn't had the best night's sleep, between waking up from bad dreams about Tom, worrying about telling Emma and the baby's nocturnal behaviours she barely had the chance to shut her eyes before something woke her.

She had woken Jim up twice, once when she got up to use the bathroom and a second time when she woke up sweating and screaming from another nightmare but he didn't realise how many times she had actually woken up during the night and actually managed to keep quiet.

"You should go back to sleep." Jim suggested noticing the tired look in his wife's eyes.

"I can't, I have to take a shower and get to the shop with enough time to figure out what I'm going to say to Emma. How do you tell one of your employees that their dead mother that hasn't seen you for years wants to talk to you?" She chirped back in a tired voice.

"You got me there." Jim replied scratching his head with his right arm and propping himself up with his left.

"Thought so, I'm going to go and take a shower but if you think of an answer you let me know." She said, kissing him passionately before folding back the covers and clambering out of bed.

The way she walked put a small smile on Jim's face. The extra weight and inches that the baby caused meant Melinda waddled slightly as she walked. He tried not to laugh too obviously but she had caught him on a few occasions and gave him the infamous daggers. She knew that he wasn't laughing to be mean, in fact he thought there was something oddly sweet about the way she walked and the fact that she was now almost as wide as she was tall.

"Jim are you laughing at me again?" He heard her call from just outside the door.

"…No honey." Jim replied attempting to compose himself as he answered.

"Alright that's enough; go do something useful and I'll see you down stairs when I'm done." She said playfully, she just couldn't be mad at him today.

Melinda then closed the bathroom door and proceeded to take a shower whilst Jim did as instructed and headed down stairs to do the dishes from last night.

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Melinda came down the stairs in a pair of blue jeans and a black baggy, top dabbing her still wet hair with a towel as she neared the bottom. She could hear Jim pottering around in the kitchen and as she neared the door she could smell something good.

"Tea?" He asked, not even needing to turn around to know that his wife had entered the room.

"Yes please." She replied taking a seat on one of the bar stools in the kitchen and looking down at the counter.

There was a few moments of quiet whilst Jim poured the tea and finished preparing the omelette that he had made from himself and Mel. He then turned around, placed the cup and plate in front of Melinda and took a seat opposite her.

"Thanks." She replied with a smile but Jim could tell that she was worried about something.

"What's up Mel?" He asked, worried.

She let out a large sigh before beginning her answer. "Well I was just thinking about the ghost and Emma, what am I supposed to say to her, _Good morning, nice day to day. By the way your dead mother wants to say hi and told me to ask you why you went into hiding. _I really don't think that's going to go down so well."

"I can come with you if you like, for moral support." He suggested as he held her hand from across the table.

"Thanks Jim but I don't think it will help. You could come by the store at lunch I need you to look at the pipes in the basement, they keep making strange noises." She replied.

"Alright but you have to finish this omelette before you go anywhere." He said sweetly then gave her a small peck on the lips.

She smiled at him and finished up. The next half hour was spent drying her hair and thinking about what to say before driving to the shop. It was crunch time.

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Melinda twisted the key in the lock and pushed the front door of her antique store open causing it to jingle in the usual manner. When she reached the front desk she slipped off her red coat and placed it on the hanger, before glancing around the store to see if anything needed moving or rearranging.

Everything seemed to be in place now all she had to do was wait for Emma to come into work but that wasn't for another 20 minutes.

Mel went around back and set up her laptop when she heard something fall at the front of the shop.

"Hello is anyone there?" She asked as she poked her head around the corner.

She was about to call again when she saw the familiar spirit that was Emma's mother.

"Have you told her yet?" She asked desperately.

"No I haven't seen her but it would be nice if I could get your name." Melinda added.

"Joanne, my name is Joanne but that isn't important, there isn't much time." She said desperately.

"What do you mean, I have all the time in the world and Emma isn't going anywhere." Melina said comfortingly.

"She is in danger, he is looking for her and she needs to know." Joanne said, her pale complexion losing its cuts and bruises.

"Okay she is due here in 10 minutes can you come back then, I still have no idea how to tell her. It's not something most people are used to hearing about." Melinda finished.

"No there isn't time. I have to leave no but tell her he is looking for her, tell her to….." Joanne didn't have chance to finish her sentence before she faded away.

It was as if she had no control over herself, by the looks of things she had been dead a while but still hadn't mastered the arts of channelling energy.

Melinda paced up and down the shop floor as she nervously awaited Emma's arrival.

"Not long now, 5 minutes." She said quietly to herself as she looked down at her watch.

The next 5 minutes were the longest set of 5 minutes she had experienced in her whole life. She could hear every tick that her watch made and the sound of her shoe hitting the floor as she stepped.

The jingle of the door caused Melinda to jump back a little and break out of the trance like state she had been in. She turned to face the door and saw Emma standing in front of it rubbing her hands together and smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"Oh my gosh it's freezing out there today." She said cheerily as she removed her knee length, white coat.

"Yeah it is quite chilly." Melinda replied attempting to act completely cool but failing.

"So do want me to flip the sign to open, and am I working back today or serving customers?" Emma asked politely, pulling her shoulder length, blonde hair into a pony tail.

"Not yet, look there is something I need to talk to you about and it's going to sound strange." Melinda said nervously.

"Okay… what is it?" Emma asked as she made her way over to where Melinda was stood.

"Your mother…." Melinda started to speak but was interrupted by Emma.

"My mother's dead, and I hadn't spoken to her for years before she died. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about her." Emma said defensively, she clearly had some issues with her mother.

"Look I know this is going to sound crazy but your mom came to me and told me to tell you he was after you and you needed to be careful." Mel finished and saw the expression on Emma's face change, she looked horrified but at the same time Mel could see a flash of realisation in her eyes.

"How could you talk to my mother, I just told you she's dead, she died 2 years ago, I got a phone call." Emma said this time confused and angry.

"I can talk to the dead Emma and your mum wanted me to warn you away from someone, you don't have to believe me but if there is any chance that you could be in danger you need to be careful." Melinda finished, desperately trying to get the message across to her young colleague.

Emma didn't respond, she just stood for a few moments then looked up at Melinda and began to speak.

"So you really spoke to my mom, my real mom?" She asked now much calmer.

"Yeah I think so, she said you had to change your name when you went into hiding. Does the name Ava Brooke Prichard mean anything to you?" Mel asked.

"That was, is my name. When I was a child my mom realised that I had a gift. I can't communicate with the dead but I do get visions, some times it's just intense feelings of Déjà vu and other times I can consciously get a vision of the past or a future event. A man my mother knew found out about me so she had to send me away to protect me." She explained then paused to allow Melinda to take in the information.

"He killed my father when I was 8 and eventually the police found out locked him up, he must be out and looking for me again…. Do you know how my mom died?" She asked, sounding a little upset that she wasn't there in her mom's last moments.

"No, no I don't but I'll find out the next time I see her. I, so you get visions?" Mel asked surprised and extremely relieved that the girl didn't think she was completely insane.

Emma just nodded and the two women sat in silence, staring at each other for a while.

"I suppose I better open up shop, it's 9:20." Melinda said breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I guess so." Emma replied.

Today was going to be a strange day at work and Mel could tell that this was the first of many strange days to come.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry if it was a little confusing I had one idea but then realised it had been done a few times before so I had to change it. If you have questions just ask and please feel free to review.


	25. Chapter 25 At the drive in

Hey guys thanks for all your reviews again they are much appreciated. Really, really sorry it has taken me forever to post this chapter, I had sooo much uni work to do that I didn't have much chance to write and then there was Christmas but I hope you will enjoy this one..

Chapter 25 At the drive in

Melinda was more than surprised by the revelation Emma had made to her earlier on that day. She didn't have much experience with psychics and the latter but she was glad that Emma hadn't assumed she was crazy when she mentioned ghosts.

It was almost 1 and time for Melinda to finish up, she could see Jim on his way across the square now so she called Emma up front to cover the counter until Delia arrived.

"Okay, you need to call me if anything strange happens." Melinda said as she slipped her coat on.

Jim then walked into the store right on queue. A huge smile plastered across his face for no apparent reason.

"Hey Mel are you ready to go?" He asked sweetly.

"Just a minute I have get my purse and say bye to Emma." Mel replied.

"Emma remember, if you see anyone or anything strange happens you have my number and I'll send someone over." She said again, this time whilst collecting her purse.

"Yeah I got it don't worry." She smiled.

Melinda and Jim then left the shop arm in arm, Jim had finished early to give them both the chance to decorate the house for Christmas. There was only a week to go and they hadn't had the time to decorate anything. First however, lunch was on the menu.

"So where are we going today." Mel asked as they drove along in her red Jeep.

"It's a surprise." Jim replied cheekily.

"Jim you know I hate surprises." She whined slightly.

"No you don't, plus this is a good surprise and you will be finding out soon enough." Jim added, he wasn't going to tell.

Melinda eventually gave up asking questions about the destination and sat back in the car seat. The baby was playing havoc in her stomach which made it difficult for her to sit comfortably so she fidgeted around slightly restless.

"We're almost there now Mel." Jim said noticing his wife's discomfort.

"You know I still have no idea where we are going." Mel said as she stared out the window seeing nothing she recognised, they had only been driving for 15 minutes and Mel didn't have a clue where she was.

Jim just smiled as he turned Mel's car around a corner into a parking lot that was completely empty apart from an opened top vehicle. As they got closer Mel could see that there was a huge projector on the wall opposite the front of the other car.

"Right we're here Mel." Jim said as he pulled the jeep to a halt.

"Jim is this, did you make a private drive in move theatre?" She asked sweetly.

"I did." He replied with a smile as he led his wife toward the open top car.

Knowing that it would be cold out he had insisted that she wrap up warm when she left the house this morning and he had placed a woollen blanket in the front of the roofless vehicle just in case she got extra cold.

Mel's eyes began to well up with tears, she was so happy that she had found someone as great as Jim and with her emotions all over the place the littlest things would set her off.

"Are you alright Mel?" Jim asked noticing the tears in her eyes.

"Yeah.. it's just… you're so great… and…" She sniffled.

"Hey, it's nothing and Mel you know I did this because I love you." He replied pulling her close to him and brushing a tear off her cheek with her soft touch.

He then led her over to the car and waited until she was fully comfortable before he went to retrieve lunch from the Jeep.

"Jim what are you doing?" She called from the car.

"Just getting food." He replied as he made his way over to Melinda carrying a huge picnic basket.

"Well if that basket is full you're not going to be short of it." She joked when she saw the size of the basket.

Jim climbed into the car next to Melinda and started the movie on the screen using a remote for the projector. It was one of Mel's all time favourite films '_My fair lady' _and even though Jim really couldn't stand the film, he was willing to sit and watch it for his wife.

"So you hungry for cold pizza or cold pasta?" He asked pulling one of each out of the picnic basket.

"Jim." She giggled at the look on his face as he pulled out items from the unconventional picnic.

"What?" He laughed pretending to have no idea what she found funny.

"Nothing, it's just where are the sandwiches?" She asked still laughing.

"Well I though you might like something a little different" He replied sweetly.

Melinda smiled again and gave Jim a sarcastic look, "We ran out of bread didn't we." She stated in a sweet voice.

Jim rolled his eyes and nodded, he was about to say something when Melinda interrupted.

"I'll have Pizza." She smiled.

"Alright."

Jim then handed Mel a slice of the cold pizza, it was all plain because Jim had selected it and she knew he had _issues_ with pizza toppings, but seriously _frankinpizza _is taking things a little too far.

Jim put an arm around his wife as she sat contently eating her food and watching the film, her head leaning slightly into his chest. Whilst Melinda was intently glued to the screen, Jim was paying no attention to the film at all, his eyes were firmly fixed on the woman that sat next to him. In his opinion she was much more interesting and far more beautiful than anything in the movie.

Once the film had finished Jim made a call to arrange for the car and projector to be cleared, it was almost 4pm and they still had to get home and do some decorating.

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The front door of their home swung open and Mel rubbed her hands together and blew warm air into them to relieve them from the cold.

"My God it's freezing." She said as Jim followed her into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

"I agree why don't I make some tea." He suggested.

"Sounds good, you do that and I'll start sorting out the decorations." She replied then playfully kissed him on the cheek and went off to the living room.

"Jim did you get the tree down from the attic?" She called.

"Yeah it should be behind the sofa, give me a sec and I'll come and sort it out, and don't lift any boxes." He called back causing Mel to instantly drop the box that she was currently holding.

"Me, lifting." She said innocently.

"Yes you." He replied as he came through into the living room carrying two mugs of tea.

"Alright you got me." She said sarcastically as she began sorting through one of the boxes.

As requested by Jim Mel did the non-manual part of the decorating and spent most of the evening untangling Christmas lights and showing Jim where to hang the decorations or put the tree. He did let her decorate the Christmas tree as far as she could reach though.

Eventually the house was finished to Melinda's high standard and so they both fell back onto the sofa.

"Looks good." Jim said satisfied at his evenings work.

"Yeah it's perfect." Mel agreed. She turned to face her husband and gave him a long, passionate kiss.

"What was that for?" He asked pleasantly surprised.

"Jim I really love you, I had a wonderful time today and I just want you to know that I really appreciate everything you do for me." She stated lovingly.

"I love you too Melinda." He replied, pulling her closer to him and hugging her sweetly.

Minutes later Mel let out a small yawn that Jim spotted immediately.

"Mel you're tired I can tell." Jim said lovingly.

"I'm fi….ne" She replied, yawning a second time mid sentence.

"Mmmhmmm." Jim rolled his eyes at her failed claim.

"Fine, fine I suppose I'm a little sleepy, I'll go up to bed." She replied.

"Good, and I'm coming with you." Her said cheekily and followed her up the stairs.

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Sorry again that it took me soooooo long to update, I will try to make them more frequent from now on. Thank you for reading and if you have a second please fell free to review xx


	26. Chapter 26 Joyce and celebrations

Thanks again for all the reviews, I can't believe I have reached 100!! They are really appreciated and it's great to know that you enjoy reading my fic. Basically this one is pretty long and it took me ages to write because I kept getting writers block every 5 minutes. If parts of it don't make sense I'm really sorry, the next chapter will be better I promise, btw sorry it took ages to update too. I'm working on another GW fic as well….

Chapter 26 Joyce and celebrations

It was now just 2 days before Christmas, most of the shopping had been done and Melinda had arranged for a small gathering at her house this evening.

So far everything was going well, unlike last year when she was dealing with a ghost running around dressed like Santa Claus and terrorising the town.

At the present Melinda was sat on the living room floor struggling to wrap some interestingly shaped presents that Jim had bought for some of his friends at the fire house. It was a funny sight as she leant in an array of awkward looking positions so she could see over her stomach.

In the next room Jim was preparing the meal for tonight and the delicious smell of freshly cooked, vegetables and roast potatoes filled the air. Melinda inhaled deeply and subconsciously licked her lips in response to the wonderful smell. She was almost done wrapping the last present which she was glad of as the dopey-eyed, fireman model had been a particularly challenging shape to wrap.

She had asked Jim on a number of occasions if she could put it in a box to which he replied, '_No because it will lose it's essence_' Whatever the hell that meant. Seriously thought Melinda was insistent that if Jim really wanted to buy awkward shaped presents he would have to wrap them himself.

Eventually she had finished battling with the cello tape _(Not sure what it's called in US sorry)_ and wrapping paper so she decided to go investigate the progress in the kitchen. The guests would be arriving in 2 hours and there was still some cleaning to be done, the table needed setting and both Mel and Jim needed to get ready but she wasn't worried, surely 2 hours was plenty of time.

"Hey Jim, something smells really good." Mel said as she approached her husband.

"Thanks honey, would you try this?" He asked holding out a spoon of something to Melinda.

Mel opened her mouth and allowed Jim to feed her the contents of the spoon.

"Oh my gosh that is so good, what is it?" She asked, licking her lips at the sensational taste in her mouth.

"That is my special soup, I'm going to serve it as a starter and I just wanted to make sure that it tasted alright, does it?" He asked hoping that her would get a straight answer.

"Yeah I just said it was great, you're a great cook Jim, really." Mel added then pushed herself up onto her tip toes and wrapped her arms around Jim's neck getting as close to him as her stomach would allow.

Jim wrapped his arms lovingly around her waist and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"You are so beautiful." He said looking into his wife's eyes.

Mel started to return the gaze when a familiar figure in the corner of the room caught her attention.

"Okay Jim hold that thought there is something I have to do." She replied as she lowered herself onto the flats of her feet.

"Is it someone I should worry about." Jim asked, concerned in case the visitor was Tom.

"No it's just someone I met outside the store a few months ago, only she was alive when I last saw her." Mel answered.

"Right I'll be here if you need me." He replied removing his arms that had previously been wrapped around his wife.

Melinda slowly walked over to the old woman standing in the corner of her living room. She looked much older than Melinda had remembered her and confused, she looked really confused.

"H-how did I get here?" The elderly woman asked Mel sounding a little bemused.

"I don't know if you remember me my name is Melinda and I own the antique shop on the square, you're Joyce right?" Mel asked kindly.

"Yes, yes I know who you are but I still don't know how I got here, I was just on my way to see my grandson and then here I am." She replied calmer than before but still confused.

"Okay erm Joyce I don't know how to tell you this but, well you're dead." Melinda said, revealing the news as delicately as she could.

There was a moments silence and Mel turned back to Jim so he knew that everything was okay then Joyce spoke.

"Oh, oh God I am dead, I remember I fell down those blasted stars again. Do you think you could send an ambulance to 174 Carver Road, I need to be going."

"Wait Joyce, you need t…." Mel tried to stop the woman from disappearing but to no avail. She stood on the spot for a few seconds then walked over to the phone.

"Jim I'll be with you in a minute I just have to call 911 and send an ambulance to find the ghost's body. How should I put it on the phone?" She informed Jim but was being serious about asking what she should say.

"What, she just disappeared and asked you to call someone to collect her body."

"Uh huh." Mel replied as she dialled 911 into the receiver.

"All I can say is use your imagination." Jim replied quietly and Mel pulled a 'ha ha very funny face' at his comment.

"Hi could you send an ambulance to 174 Carver Road, I think there has been an accident there, an elderly woman may have fallen but I can't get to the house." Mel said to the operator.

"Okay, thank you. Bye." Mel said and put the phone down.

"That was simple, they didn't ask any questions." Jim asked.

"No, they just said they'd send someone out right away but if I get any calls from the police you are so my alibi." She joked as she made her way back over to her husband.

"Yeah I guess I am." He replied as he pulled her into a hug.

"Gosh look at the time, I need to get ready, Delia and Ned will be here in an hour and I really hope Emma and Payne can make it." She added/

"You need to get ready now are you sure you can't just stay here a little longer?" Jim asked as he placed soft kisses on the side of her neck.

"Jim you know it takes me longer to get dressed with the bump, besides you need to finish up in here and get your self ready too." Mel replied as she moved away from Jim.

"Alright fine." He said as he allowed her to walk away and get ready for tonight's dinner.

As she walked up the stairs she hoped that there would be no more interruptions, Joyce seemed to be preoccupied with something and she hoped that whatever it was would last at least until after the main course. As for Tom showing up, she hadn't seen him in a while and she hoped that it would remain that way. This year the evening was going to be perfect no matter what.

On the bed she had already ironed a black cocktail dress, it was maternity wear but black is a slimming colour and she did really like the dress, although she wasn't sure what she would do with it once the bump was gone.

It didn't take her long to slip into the dress, she had just started to apply some make up when Jim came into the bedroom to get changed for dinner.

"Mel you look beautiful." He said as he walked over to the dressing table and kissed her on the cheek.

"Well thank you but I'm not done and you're not dressed and people will be here soon, you know Delia she is always early, and well Emma has never been here before and I want to make a good impression." Mel replied, her words pouring out of her mouth like she had a time limit to say them.

"Mel honey you need to relax, the food is ready I have it on a low heat keeping it warm, I will be ready in 10 minutes and Emma, she's a college student, she will love the house no matter what." He comforted, massaging her shoulders in a bid to relax her.

"Alright but could you go and get dressed just to make sure." She answered.

Jim chuckled at her slightly and then headed over to the bed where his clothes were neatly placed. "Sure honey if it will make you feel better, but you know everything is going to go fine." He said.

Mel gave Jim the best smile she could and they both continued to get ready, for Jim it was a simple change and a brush of the hair, although Melinda did insist that he put some form of hair product in it to prevent a piece at the back from sticking up. Mel on the other hand took another 20 minutes, she had to finish applying her make-up and then tweak her hair.

Jim thought that she looked beautiful anyway, he loved it when she wore her hair curly, she looked so natural but she always had to mess with it so it was 'perfect'. Eventually Melinda was ready and the pair made their way down the stairs together to prepare for the arrival for their guests, Jim hadn't told Melinda that he had managed to get in contact with Rick and he was going to take a break from his sabbatical and come to the dinner, he wanted it to be a surprise.

The doorbell rang not 10 minutes after they had taken a comfortable seat in the living room and Jim jumped up to answer the door before Melinda even had the chance to register that someone was actually there. He wanted to make sure he got their before she did so he could somehow hide Rick from her.

He pulled open the door and greeted Delia, Ned, Emma and Rick, amazingly they had all arrived at the same time which made it much easier to conceal Rick's presence.

"Hey guys come in and take a seat in the living room, Mel should be there waiting." He said as he ushered everyone apart from Rick in Melinda's direction.

Next he signalled for the professor to follow him into the kitchen whilst Mel was distracted by the arrival of her friends. Emma was telling her a story about something that occurred in the shop earlier, Jim assumed it was about an awkward customer, or a vision but he would ask later.

"Okay here's the plan, I want you to wait in here 5 minutes whilst I get everyone sat at the table, the I'm gonna come in here to get the food and when I bring it through to them you follow. Got it?" Jim asked hoping that he made sense to Rick, sometimes even the simple approach was tough for Rick to follow.

The professor just nodded his approval and then Jim headed off to the living room to put the plan into action.

"Okay everyone the food is ready to serve so if you all go take a seat I'll bring the food through in a moment." Jim said as he guided the women and Ned who looked extremely bored, in the right direction.

"Oh Jim let me help you, the dinner was my idea and I haven't done anything." Melinda added as she realised she had let Jim do most of the leg work.

"No, no Mel I'm fine and you need to relax remember." Jim replied with a smile.

"Yeah but there is no way you can carry all the food through on your own." She said feeling that she had made a really good point.

Jim tried to think of a decent reply but was saved by Delia who jumped to his rescue.

"He wont be carrying it alone Ned will help him, won't you Ned?" Delia added making her order sound like a request.

"Yeah sure whatever, it's not like I had anyone to talk to anyway." He replied making his way over to Jim.

The two men left the room, their absence barley noticed by the three women who had found something even more interesting to chat about in the space of 5 minutes. Now it was time to bring Rick into the equation and surprise Melinda.

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First Ned walked into the kitchen carrying a large dish of vegetables, whilst he distracted Melinda with his inquiries of where he should put the dish Rick was escorted into the living room by Jim.

At first she didn't notice as she was so busy making sure that everything looked good on the table but when she looked she almost jumped out of her skin.

"Oh my God Rick, I can't believe you're here!" She exclaimed with delight, rising from her seat to hug the professor she hadn't seen in months.

"How are you, how is the work going?" She asked excitedly wanting to be filled in on any details about his life that she had missed.

"Nothing much going on although I did meet some very interesting tribal members whilst on a dig, but that isn't important, how are you?" He asked glancing down at her swelled stomach.

"I'm fine, just really glad that you're here, I can't believe you're here. Sit down." Mel said as she ushered Rick to a spare seat at the table.

The evening continued as planned, Melinda only had one interruption from Joyce and that was just to inform Melinda that her body had been found by the police. The best thing about it was she didn't have to hide her conversation with the ghost from any of the people in the room and this made her feel more normal than she had in a long time.

Once the meal was over the group chatted and exchanged Christmas gifts ready for the big day, then all but Emma departed just before 11pm. Everyone else exited via the front door but Emma stood and looked into Melinda's eyes deeply.

"Melinda can I talk to you before I go?" She asked, her usual sunny expression slightly more serious.

"Sure, what's up?" Mel asked and signalled for Jim to give them some space to which he took the hint and left the room.

"Well it's just I saw something and I think you need to know." Emma said sounding more worried now.

"What did you see Emma?" Mel said slightly frantic, if it was anything like the dreams she had been having and the messages from Tom, it wasn't going to be good.

"I, well I saw you alone, you were crying and I think you were in labour but you weren't in a place I recognised, definitely not a hospital. There was no one there except a dark haired man and that Tom ghost you told me about. Except he didn't look ghostly." Emma finished the expression on her face not changing throughout the explanation.

Melinda didn't speak, she felt sick. What if Emma's vision was true, what if someone wanted to hurt her and the baby and where was Jim? All these thoughts flashed through her mind until she finally mustered up the energy to speak.

"Emma, how often… are your visions ever wrong?" Melinda asked nervously.

Emma inhaled a large amount of air and swallowed, "No, not so far…."

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Okay so that took me ages to update and I'm sorry but it is a long one ;-) Sorry about the ending, you will have to wait until the next chapter to see what Jim says and how they plan to resolve the impending problem. Hope you enjoyed the read, reviews are appreciated and ideas and constructive criticism is welcomed. Thank you!!


	27. Chapter 27 Under surveillence

Hey guys thank you for all the reviews I'm glad you all liked the last chapter 110 reviews, woop woop! Again it has taken me ages to upload but I had my uni exams for the 1st semester and I had to revise for them but they are done now. I like to make sure the chapters are just right which is why they take a little longer but I hope you will enjoy this one as the mystery starts to unravel.

Chapter 27 Under surveillance 

Shortly after Emma had left Melinda entered the living room trying her best to hide the sheer terror she was feeling inside, she knew that she _had_ to tell Jim but for the minute she just avoided his gaze.

"Hey Mel did Emma get off alright?" Jim asked in an attempt to make conversation.

"Mmmm." Mel replied, not realising that her answer would make it blindingly obvious to Jim that something was wrong.

"Mel honey, are you alright?" He asked slightly concerned, he could always tell when something was bothering her.

She was about to answer and claim that she was fine but something stopped her, Jim _needed_ to know and she was going to have to tell him. She took a deep breath and sighed loudly. Jim moved closer to where she was sitting and placed his arm reassuringly around her.

"What is it Mel?" He asked lovingly.

"You know how I told you Emma has visions." She started and Jim nodded.

"Well she… she had one about me and I think I might be in danger. Jim I'm really scared." She said looking deeply into his eyes as tears started to fall from hers.

"Hey shushhhh, I wont let anyone hurt you." He comforted but still he wanted to know what she meant.

"I d…don't think you have a choice, Emma…. She's never been wrong b…before and Tom has someone helping him, they want the baby Jim." She said as the tears fell down her face and she began to sob.

Jim felt sick but he couldn't let Melinda know how scared he was, he had to be there, he had to comfort her.

"Okay, it's going to be alright from now until the baby is born I'm not letting you out of my sight, you are officially under surveillance." He said to her as he held her in his arms and stroked her hair.

She leant further into him and buried her face into his chest as she cried. Jim just held her close and whispered reassuring words in her ear until she finally fell asleep. He then carried her up the stairs to bed and covered her up gently. There was no way he was going to be able to get any sleep that night so he just lay awake, watching Melinda sleep until the morning glow began to edge it's way into the bedroom.

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It had been 2 weeks since Emma's vision and, so far everything was fine, however there hadn't been a day where Melinda hadn't thought about what Emma had said and now that the due date was nearing the thoughts were only getting worse.

It was around 7:30am and Melinda awoke from a not so great dream. She knew that her nightmares had been getting worse but she could never remember the details when she awoke. She turned over onto her side and saw that Jim was lying on top of the duvet fully clothed, what she didn't know is that he had been up most of the night comforting her as she cried in her sleep.

She didn't want to wake him but she really needed to use the bathroom so she carefully pulled back the covers, and slid out of the bed as gracefully as she could manage.

She waddled to the bathroom and used the toilet; it wasn't until she stood up and began to wash her hands that she got an overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. She turned and looked around the room but she couldn't see anyone, heck she couldn't even hear anyone but still she felt as though something wasn't right.

As quickly as she could she dried her hands on the towel next to the sink and made her way back to bed. This time she did want to wake Jim and instead of going for the silent, gentle approach she shook him and called his name until he roused from his sleep.

"Jim, Jim please wake up." She said as she attempted to shake him from his sleep.

"Jim.."

"Wh..what is it Mel?" He said groggily as he rubbed his eyes then turned his attention to Melinda. When he looked at her his instincts told him that something was bothering her so he sat himself up and put his arm around her.

"Is he here?" Jim asked following Melinda's gaze to the corner of the room.

She just shook her head, as far as she knew Tom wasn't here, she couldn't see him or here him, just something felt off.

"No, I just have a bad feeling." She replied as she turned to face Jim once more.

He brought his hands up and began to caress her face. "Alright Mel, we can go shower and change and then we can get out of here, go somewhere for the day." He comforted trying to offer a way to put Mel's mind off of Emma's vision.

"Jim I'm scared, will you, will you wait in the bathroom with me while I take a shower?" She asked so innocently.

"Of course Mel, although I was thinking that we could shower together, save water and all that." He replied hoping that he could ease Mel's mood with a little humour.

Melinda nodded and so Jim took her by the hand and led her to the bathroom closing the door behind them.

After a long, hot shower Jim and Melinda left the bathroom and for the first time that morning, she felt like she didn't have a worry in the world, but only for a second.

Melinda sat in her dressing gown, on the window ledge just staring out whilst Jim stood in the doorway and watched her. It was obvious she was deep in thought and so Jim stood back and enjoyed the view.

Emma's vision had scared the life out of Mel, it wasn't the fact that she had been kidnapped and it wasn't the fact that she had been taken to some strange place. It was the fact that Jim was no where to be seen, she just couldn't get the feeling out of her mind that the sadistic bastard that was going to kidnap her might hurt Jim too. How the hell else would he manage to get hold of her, there was no way Jim would have let that happen without putting up a fight and that was the one thing she couldn't let happen.

Her mind raced as she tried to recall every detail Emma had told her, if only she could see the man she was going to be up against then she could keep him away from Jim, and the baby. Oh God the baby, it was only 1 month until the due date the closer she got to giving birth, the more paranoid she became, looking around every corner, locking every door and window in the house when Jim wasn't home, and the constant phone calls. If it wasn't Jim calling to make sure Mel was okay it was Mel calling Jim to make sure nothing had happened to her.

Eventually Jim broke out of his daze and walked over to Melinda who seemed to still be deep in thoughts.

"Hey Mel how about that walk?" He said putting an arm around her waist.

"Wait, don't you have to work today?" She asked, completely forgetting that Jim probably had to go into work.

"Nope, today is my day off and I want to spend it walking with the most beautiful woman in the world." He replied and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Alright then, but we can't go too far, I don't think my legs will carry me with all this weight." Mel smiled.

Jim laughed at her attempt at a joke and then scooped her off of the window ledge, causing her to giggle a little. Sure she was heavier than usual, but still not a problem for him.

"Extra weight isn't gonna be a problem." He said as he carried her out of the bedroom.

"I love you." She gushed and kissed him passionately.

The kiss lasted for several moments before they broke apart. They stared tenderly into each other eyes.

"I love you to." He whispered softly into her ear.

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Okay I hope you liked it, the next chapter should be more eventful and I think I am nearing a conclusion for the whole story, but don't worry I am working on another fanfic as we speak. Sorry you had to wait a while again I keep trying to make the chapters perfect and it isn't happening because I keep changing my mind about what should happen. Please review and thank you for reading xx


	28. Chapter 28 Unknown taking

Sorry again that it took me a while to update, I have another story to write now too so I have to balance the time out. I hope you will enjoy this one, the story is reaching its conclusion now….

Chapter 28 Unknown taking

Melinda felt a sharp pain in her abdomen and immediately brought her hands down to clutch where the pain was situated. She knew exactly what the pain was but now was not a good time, in fact it was a really, really bad time for the baby to come.

She started to control her breathing as she headed for the phone, she had to call Jim then he could come and get her and everything would be fine. As she made her way across the living room to the phone in the hallway she felt someone grasp her from behind. She tried to turn around and face them but he was too strong and she couldn't fight him as another contraction caused pain to course through her body.

"Melinda, finally now the time is right." She heard a voice say from the shadows.

Just like in Emma's vision Tom had come back with help and she knew that things weren't going to get any better from here.

"Let me go, I need to go to the hospital." She screamed as she tried once more to fight the clutch of the dark haired man holding her.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, you have 1 of 2 options Melinda, come without a fight and suffer no harm, or come unconscious." The male said his voice expressing the pleasure he was getting from overpowering Melinda.

So many thoughts passed through her mind at this moment, she could fight back but she knew that she would lose, even if she wasn't in the beginning stages of labour there was no way she would have been able to fight this guy off. He was so tall and really, really strong. It was like battling a brick wall.

As she carried on thinking of her options she felt herself been lifted off her feet and realised that the only thing she could do was attempt to give Jim some kind of a clue that she was in trouble.

On the way out of the house Melinda did her best to knock over as many things as she could leaving a trail of fallen pictures and knocked over plant pots on the way to the door, she even dropped one of her ear-rings in the midst of it all in the vain hope that he would see it and realise she had been taken by force. Jim would definitely notice that something was off, he had to.

The tall man placed her in the front of the car and fastened her seat belt before walking around the other side. She thought about making a break for it then but the feeling of another contraction stopped her, they had such bad timing and the pain, it was only going to get worse.

_I have to stay calm, Jim will find me and everything will be okay._ She thought to herself as she took slow, steady breaths of air.

Once he had got himself comfortable in the driver's seat of his black fiesta he started the engine and pulled out of Melinda's drive heading in the direction of the unknown destination.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Melinda asked pleased with how demanding she had actually sounded.

"Be quiet." The man replied, never once taking his eyes off the road to look at the expression on Melinda's face.

"Why are you doing this, why are you helping him and how can you see him?" Melinda asked, she was going to stop that easily, she needed answers and he could give them to her.

"I said Shut up." The man replied, his voice showing more hostility this time.

Melinda paused for a moment to brace herself for a further contraction, she was sure that they were getting closer together which was bad, but her waters hadn't broken yet.

Melinda reframed from speaking the rest of the way, she could tell that the guy was completely out of his mind and she didn't want to risk anything happening to the baby.

She thought about Tom and how he was visible to this mystery man, _How can he see him, can he see the dead too? Why does he want to help him so badly?_ Melinda questioned in her mind.

Eventually she grew tired of trying to work out the answers to the impossible questions and focused her attention on the time between contractions hoping she could work out how long she had left. She stared out the window at the direction they were travelling in the vain hope that she would recognise something but before long they pulled up at a house.

It was an average looking house on the outside and Melinda noticed that there were many other houses around, _I could scream, call for help someone has got to hear me._ She thought to herself as the driver climbed out of his side of the car to come and collect her.

He grabbed her by the arm so tightly that she instinctively let out a small cry, the man shot her daggers and started to pull her into the house.

"Please slow down." Melinda choked as she tried as best she could to keep up but she was in pain.

Her kidnapper didn't react at all he just carried on pulling her, his arm tightly clenched around her arm until they were inside the house, causing the tears she had been holding in for so long to come pouring out.

Once the door was closed Melinda was thrown to the ground. Clutching her stomach in pain she rotated herself in to the comfiest position she could manage and tried to compose herself.

Tom appeared before he with the broadest smile on his face, his expression made her feel physically sick and his presence caused her brain to do somersaults, she couldn't see straight and she knew she didn't have much longer until she went into full blown labour.

"Melinda Gordon, finally you're here." Tom said in his shrill tone. He gave the kidnapper an approving look then appeared right next to Melinda.

She didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say, Emma had seen all of this coming and still she couldn't prevent it from happening, she just had to wait.

"Jim can't save you now." Tom spoke again the sound of his voice causing Melinda to tremble all over.

"Oh God." Mel called as her waters broke leaving her laid in a small puddle of fluid.

"Ah we're getting close now, Jackson, get the tools." Tom said with a sickening smile.

Melinda just concentrated on reducing the pain she was in. Jim was supposed to be here, she needed him with her it hurt so much and she was scared. They were going to try and take her baby and she was pretty sure Jackson had no idea how to deliver one. She just had to hope that Jim had realised she was gone, she had to hope that Emma knew where she was and that they were on their way.

She saw Jackson enter the room with a huge bag on his back, he bent down beside her and began to remove the items one by one. There was a pair of scissors, some towels and an array of needles and other medical tools the site of which caused Melinda to gulp.

_What the hell was he going to do with those, he certainly can't know how to use them_ She thought to herself until she was hit by another contraction, this one much worse than the last.

Sweat dripped off her forehead as she fought the pain and tried her best to block out the harsh words of the dark eyed spirit. Jackson just stood waiting like a vulture scoping out its prey.

She knew that there wasn't long now, she knew that the baby was coming but she had to keep positive, she had to hope that Jim was on his way….

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Sorry I took so long with this chapter again…. I hope it isn't too confusing. Because I left it on a kind of cliff hanger I will try to get the next chapter posted asap and I will be updating my other story within the next few days. Thanks for reading and please feel free to review. x


	29. Chapter 29 Against the clock

Finally I have gotten around to writing this pretty important chapter, I hope you all enjoy it and didn't mind the wait. If anybody feels there was a better way I could have gone about this issue please let me know. Feel free to review.

Chapter 29 Against the clock

_(This is set at the same time as the previous chapter, it will jump to the present shortly.)_

Jim paced up and down the hallway of his house waiting for an idea or something to pop into his mind. He had called the police and they were searching for his wife but he remembered what Mel had told him, he knew that no one was going to get there in time and this completely freaked him out.

"Dude we have to find her." Jim said desperately to one of the police men in his home.

"I know Jim, I know; the guys are doing everything they can for the moment but there just aren't any leads as to who might have taken her or where they might have taken her. All we have is a sign of a struggle." The officer replied in a very calm and unintentionally patronising tone.

Jim knew _who _had taken her but he couldn't exactly tell anyone they would just assume him crazy and then stop helping. He couldn't just stand here and pace either so he grabbed his jacket and car keys, jumped in his vehicle, and drove off toward the home of the one person he believed may be able to help him.

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Jim arrived outside Emma's house and began frantically pounding his fists on the door until she answered.

"Jim what, what's wrong." Emma said a little groggily but she knew.

"Mel… Mel's gone and I need your help to try and figure out where she is." Jim replied frenetically.

Emma didn't know what to say, she had seen this coming but not in enough detail to be of any use to Jim so she just held out her arm and placed a hand on Jim's shoulder in a bid to comfort him, instead she was pulled into a vision.

_It was dark and cold, really cold. There was a tall man with dark hair pacing up and down the room waiting for someone, no he was waiting on something. In the corner of the room was a woman who looked to be in pain. When Emma looked closely she saw that the woman was Melinda. _

_Concentrating hard now Emma tried to get a look at the outside of the building and she did, she came up with the street name to 'Barker street'._ Emma then quickly resurfaced from the vision as quickly a she had been pulled into it.

"Are you okay?" Jim asked a little worried but hopeful that she had seen something useful.

"Fine, I'm fine but you need to go to 29 Barker street, I'll call the police and an ambulance." Emma replied seriously.

Quicker than he could even think Jim was in the front of his car and on his way to his wife, nothing could get in his way, nothing at all.

Jim sped down the road at lightning speeds not bothering to take note of any speed limits or other items that may otherwise hinder his chances of getting to Melinda in time.

It wasn't long before he arrived outside the house, he only hoped that he had gotten there in time.

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Jackson paced up and down the room in anticipation, he knew that the baby wasn't going to be long now, all he had to do was get the baby out alive and everything else would fall into place. His one problem at the moment was that Melinda was being less than cooperative; little did he know that his problems were going to get far worse.

"Oh my God." Mel screamed as her contractions got more painful, they were much closer together now too.

"Will you calm down I'm trying to think." Jackson spat as he fiddled with the tools in his bag anticipating which ones he would need to use for what.

"No, if you are going to force me into delivering a baby in this shit hole without my husband I am going to scream as much as I like." Melinda replied then resumed her breathing technique which really wasn't doing a whole lot of good.

Jackson wasn't impressed by her comment and stood up, his full height towering over her. He was just about to strike her when a familiar voice caused him to freeze on the spot.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY WIFE!" Jim screamed as he launched himself at the man and smacked him in the face. Jackson immediately fell to the floor and placed a hand over his now bleeding mouth.

Jim bent down on the floor next to his wife and took her hand. "Oh God Mel are you alright, I was so worried." He said as he used he free hand to wipe the droplets of sweat from her forehead.

"Jim I'm scared, it really hurts." She replied allowing the tears she had been holding in to freely fall from her eyes.

"Everything is going to be alright the ambulance is on its way, just keep breathing." He said comfortingly.

Melinda did her best to keep up the breathing technique that she had been focusing on since the labour started but it was wearing, she had no idea how women id this whole child birth thing without pain killers and she wasn't even at the worst part yet.

Another contraction hit her like a wrench in the stomach and she instinctively squeezed Jim's hand in response causing him to grimace a little but she was glad he was there and so was he.

The couple could here the faint sound of sires moving closer to them and realised that everything was going to be alright now.

Jim checked to see how close Mel was to actually giving birth, he was no gynaecologist but he was sure that there wasn't much time left, certainly not enough time to make it to the hospital.

"Jim… W..whats happening, is everything al…right?" Melinda asked in-between breaths.

"Yeah as far as I can tell everything looks fine but the baby will be here soon." Jim replied, he didn't want to let her know that she might not make it to the hospital she was a woman in labour and could quite possibly kill him.

Melinda took quick, shallow breaths to ease her way through the increasing pain coursing through her body, Jim offered sweet words of support as she breathed and squeezed his hand.

It took 5 minutes for the ambulance to pull up outside the house, 2 paramedics and a midwife came bounding out of it and into the room where Melinda and Jim were situated.

The paramedics bustled around the room pulling equipment out of their bags and whispering incoherent words to each other so that Jim and Melinda wouldn't hear what was going on. The midwife came over to where Melinda was and started pressing on her stomach in various different places.

"W..what are… you… d…doing?" Melinda asked between breaths holding tightly onto Jim's hand.

"Sorry Ms Gordon I was just trying to get an idea of how long it will be until the birth, I don't think we have time to make it to the hospital." The skinny woman replied.

A look of horror swept across Mel's face as she looked at Jim, panic in her eyes.

"Hey Mel it's going to be okay, you can do this here, we can do this." He replied giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Okay Melinda I need you to keep breathing and when you get your next contraction I want you to try and push, okay?" The woman said calmly.

Melinda just nodded then turned to face her husband who was just standing supportively at her side allowing her to hold his hand as tightly as she wanted.

A contraction soon came and she cried out as she used as much force as she could to push whilst squeezing Jim's hand tightly.

The look on his face was a picture but he still smiled at Melinda and dabbed her forehead with a damp cloth.

"You're doing really well honey." He whispered as she breathed quick shallow breaths.

"Alright Melinda I can see the head, I need you to keep pushing." The midwife said he words extremely focused.

Melinda did as instructed, she worked with the contractions as best as she could and fought the pain.

"Okay just one more push." The woman said supportively.

"I can't." Mel whimpered she was exhausted, after the kidnapping and the lengthy labour she felt as though she had no more energy.

Jim looked as his wife and gave her hand a small squeeze.

"Come on Mel I know you can do this, you have to do this it will all be worth it in the end." Jim said comfortingly then leant to kiss her forehead.

Melinda did her best to muster up some energy and with one last push the baby was born, and the reassuring sound of the baby's cry made Mel let out a tired sigh of relief.

"Congratulations you have a beautiful baby girl." The delivery woman said.

Jim was allowed to cut the umbilical chord then the baby was handed to him and she almost instantly stopped crying.

"She's so beautiful." Jim cooed as he walked over to Melinda and handed their new baby daughter to her, a small tear of joy in his eye.

Melinda held out her arms and took their daughter into them, she was so tiny but beautiful and Melinda too began to cry as she held her.

"Right I'm sorry guys but we have to get you and the baby to the hospital to make sure everything is alright. The baby seems pretty healthy but she is small so we need to check everything over." The midwife said.

Two paramedics then entered the room with a gurney and Melinda was placed onto it, Jim holding their daughter that was wrapped in a warm, yellow blanket. She opened her eyes and looked at him, they were perfect blue eyes and Jim knew there were now going to be two women in his life he couldn't say no to.

Jim climbed into the back of the ambulance with Melinda and handed the baby to the midwife who took good care of her.

"Mel you did good." Jim said and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Mmm, she's so beautiful." Mel replied glancing over at their new daughter.

"I know just like her mother." Jim said sweetly.

Melinda smiled a little but she was so exhausted that she was almost falling asleep.

"Now we j….ust need to think of a name." Mel spoke between yawning.

"I know, I know but we can do that later, now you need to sleep." Jim said softly and stroked her forehead.

The ambulance drove towards Mercy West where there was a bed waiting for the new family, Mel finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

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Sorry it took ages and sorry for making you all wait, you are all fantastic for reading this far but like I said the end is near. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if the childbirth part wasn't that realistic I apologise, I've not got around to having a baby yet (still at uni) so next time I will do better. Name ideas please, I want to do something different rather than call her Andrea like a lot of other stories. Thanks for reading please review.


	30. Chapter 30 One more thing

Okay guys I think this is going to be one of the last chapters so I want to thank you all for reading the fic all the way to this point and I want to give a special thanks to all the people who reviewed almost every chapter written. Sorry for making you guys wait. Enjoy :)

Chapter 30 One Last thing

Melinda lay in the hospital bed sleeping peacefully with Jim by her side just watching her chest move up and down as she breathed. They still hadn't named their beautiful daughter because no matter what they came up with it just didn't feel right, they probably should have thought about this during the pregnancy but they were just too busy.

Melinda's gynaecologist, Dr Jenson had been to visit within an hour of Melinda's admittance to check on her and the baby. She examined Melinda thoroughly and concluded that the fibroid which developed during pregnancy had shrunk and therefore didn't need removing at the moment and the baby was fine too. News which Jim was greatly happy about, now his main concern was Tom, he knew that the ghost didn't have a chance of getting his baby by himself but he was worried that someone else was helping him.

Whilst Jim worried about his wife and child Melinda began to stir from her sleep then slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey." Jim said as he noticed that his wife was now fully awake for the first time since the birth.

"Hey." Mel replied as she rubbed her eyes.

"How long was I out for?" She asked sweetly.

"Oh like 6, 7 hours, not too long considering you gave birth to a child last night." Jim replied lovingly and leant over to give his wife a kiss.

Melinda smiled and began to sit herself up on the bed, Jim helped by propping the cushions up behind her so she could rest her back on them.

"How is she, do you think they could bring her in here now I'm awake?" Mel asked her husband her eyes showing how much she wanted to hold their baby."

"I'll go ask someone to get her now." Jim said smiling then placed a soft kiss on Melinda's head before leaving the room.

Tom must have been watching because as soon as Jim left he appeared to her looking more vulnerable than she had ever seen him.

"What the hell do you want." Melinda spat, she didn't have the time or the energy to waste on this ghost.

Tom didn't reply, he just stared at her, his eyes that once showed anger showed emptiness. Normally Melinda would have felt bad for him, she would have showed compassion but not now, not after what he tried to take away from her.

"Please leave, I have nothing to say to you at the moment, I want you to stay away from me and my family." Melinda said harshly.

"Just know Melinda this isn't over there is still one more thing." Tom said eerily.

"Go away." She called, her voice louder than she had intended it to be.

Tom just smiled at her in his nausea provoking way then abruptly disappeared leaving her alone once more.

Jim returned to the room a few minutes later followed by an incubator containing their new baby girl and Melinda was able to hide her fear behind a smile at the arrival of her baby girl, she was so tiny but perfect. The nurse picked the baby up and placed her in Melinda's arms.

"There you go, she's very beautiful." The nurse said smiling.

Melinda thanked her then she left, leaving the couple alone with their new child.

"So a name, we need to give her a name." Melinda said as she allowed the baby to grasp hold of her finger lightly, her hands were so small that she could barley get her fingers around Melinda's smallest one.

"Yeah a name." Jim replied, he was just staring lovingly at his wife and child, he loved how amazing Melinda looked, how beautiful she looked holding the child they created.

"How about Cady." Jim suggested.

"…No I knew a girl in primary school called Cady, she threw sand at me." Melinda replied.

Jim just chuckled, for some reason he found this just a little funny.

"Alright then, not Cady."

"Jennifer?" Jim said again.

"I dunno it just doesn't feel right." Melinda replied dismissing the name again, although she didn't have a grudge against this name.

The pair continued like this for some time, each one of them suggesting names and then either dismissing them straight away for random reasons or pondering them for moments before deciding that it wasn't right for their daughter.

The couple had been quite for a while, Jim was now holding their daughter and laid sat next to Melinda in the bed. She had been seemingly staring into space for some time then she suddenly spoke.

"How about Lillyana Grace." Melinda said sweetly.

Jim paused a moment… "Yeah, I think I like it, Lillyana Grace Gordon-Clancy." He replied.

"No, it's Lillyana Grace Clancy, she should take your name if I'm going to." Melinda replied with a loving smile.

Jim was taken aback by her comment, he had never pressured Melinda to take his name and he certainly wasn't expecting her to announce that she would now.

"Really Mel?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, I love you so much, you're my husband and the father of my child and your family has done more for me than my own." Melinda replied a small tear in her eye.

Jim placed Lilly back in the incubator and then gave Melinda a huge hug.

A few minutes passed and a stocky woman entered the room and picked up Melinda's chart. Next she walked over to the baby and took her out of the incubator.

"Melinda it's time for her feed." The nurse said kindly.

"Okay," Melinda replied and held her arms out to take her daughter.

As Melinda fed Lillyana the nurse and Jim tried to make conversation.

"So have you thought of a name for her yet?" Helen the nurse asked.

"Yeah we have." Jim replied beaming.

"Lillyana Grace Clancy." Melinda added with a smile as she looked down at their daughter.

"That's a beautiful name it fits her so well." Helen replied sweetly.

"Yeah I think so." Jim said contently.

"When can we have visitors, my mother and Melinda's would probably like to come and see the baby and then there's our friends." Jim asked the nurse.

"Well I think tomorrow would be appropriate, Lillyana looks to be feeding fine and she is in good health so we can move her into a room with Melinda permanently. If you both continue to do well then you should be home in the next few days." Helen said sweetly, her deep brown eyes reflecting her warmth.

"Okay good, I'll let the grandparent know later and Mel you can call Delia, Emma and Rick." Jim added.

"Hmmm, Helen I think she's done." Melinda said then fastened up her gown again.

Helen then helped Melinda and Jim burp Lilly before placing her back in the incubator and taking her back to the nursery.

Once the room was clear and it was just the two of them Melinda decided that she would tell Jim that Tom was still floating around.

"Jim you know when you went to get Lilly earlier?" Melinda asked.

"Yeah Mel what is it?" Jim replied.

"Well Tom appeared."

"What! What the hell did he want?" Jim said his voice raised more than usual.

"I don't know he didn't say much." Mel replied confused.

"Well what did he say Mel?" Jim asked concerned.

"He told me that it wasn't over, that there was still one more thing but I don't understand what he meant." Melinda said again, her desire to solve the mystery was causing the meaning to burn in the back of her mind.

"I don't like the sound of that Mel, what if he tries to hurt you or Lilly?" He asked again.

"I don't think he can, not at the moment he was weak and if my mom and me are there to protect her then he can't touch her." Melinda replied calmly to comfort her husband.

"Okay but I still don't like this." Jim pouted.

"I know honey but you just have to trust that everything will be okay." Mel replied.

"I do trust you." He said then kissed her softly their lips holding together for a few moments before they broke apart.

"Well I better call the grandparents, you can take the friends." Jim said playfully.

"Sure but can you call Rick, he asks strange questions." Melinda laughed.

"Sure honey." Jim replied.

Jim then helped Melinda out of the bed and toward the phones at the end of the ward, the couple then made the phone calls they needed to make and returned to the room to prepare for the series of visits they were going to receive tomorrow. It was going to be an eventful day for everyone.

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Thanks for reading I really appreciate it and I want to say thanks for all the brilliant reviews I have received for this story, who knew it would get to 30 chapters. Thanks to the people who suggested names and I took them all into account but I didn't want to offend anyone by not using their name so I went with one that had a special meaning that was significant to the story. Lillyana means purity, beauty and light and Grace kind of speaks for its' self. Please Review.


	31. Chapter 31 Addressing the pressing issue

Sorry it has been ages since I updated, I have work for university to do, psychology journal articles are sooo confusing!! But I hope you will enjoy this chapter there are only a few more to go now.

Chapter 31 Addressing the pressing issue.

It was the next day and Melinda had woken up early so she could prepare herself for the visitors that were expected later on this afternoon.

"Jim.. Jim wake up." Mel said as she kicked the camp bed he had slept on.

"W..what is it Mel, is Tom here?" Jim asked making it clear to Melinda that he hadn't been able to get the ghost out of his mind.

"No, no it's just that we have visitors today and I need to look presentable so you need to take care of the baby whilst I go shower, I promise I'll be real quick 10, 15 minutes tops." Mel said to her husband, pouting as she did.

"Mel honey you look beautiful no matter what, and they wont be here for another couple of hours so you can go back to bed, the nurses said you had to rest Mel." Jim replied as he started to stand.

"I'm fine, really I am even my blood pressure is okay and the supplements they have been making me take for the anaemia have been working." Mel answered trying to reassure her husband that she was in fact perfectly in fine. If she was honest she did feel a little tired but the shower would wake her.

"Alright but I'm gonna have to let the nurses know where you've gone just in case." Jim replied then leant over and kissed her deeply not even caring that neither of them had brushed their teeth.

Melinda then pulled away from his embrace and pottered slowly along to the bathroom with her shower stuff bundled together in her arms. Jim watched her until she disappeared behind the door then he quickly went to tell one of the nurses where his wife was.

He probably should take a shower himself but at the moment he just wanted to spend time with his wife and little baby girl, noticing Lilly had awoken he picked her up into his arms and started to talk baby talk at her.

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Melinda had just stepped into the shower when the water suddenly turned itself off.

"That's strange." Melinda said to herself as she noticed that the faucet had been switched to off.

She turned the shower back on and continued to allow the water to cleanse her soft skin until she heard someone whispering her name.

"Alright that's it, what the hell do you want." Melinda said harshly as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself.

"_Melinda, we are all waiting for you." _The voice whispered eerily.

"What, Tom I know it's you, I can feel your energy and I want you to GO AWAY." Melinda replied her voice a lot louder than she had realised but the noise of the shower prevented the people on the ward from hearing anything out of the ordinary.

"_We're waiting for you Melinda, don't think for one minute that you are safe, it turns out I'm not the only spirit who wants your soul and with their help I will have you and your precious little girl." _Tom said his voice piercing Melinda's ears as the shrill tone ripped right through her.

"No, go away, leave me alone please." Melinda said, tears starting to fall from her eyes as she no longer had the strength to hold herself up.

"_Of course my dearest Mel, but we will be back, I promise you this." _Tom screeched, his laugh echoing in Melinda's head until she blacked out the shower still running in the background.

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It had been a good 20 minutes since Melinda had left Jim to take a shower and he was getting increasingly worried about her lack of appearance. He was sure she had said she wouldn't be long and he knew that she would keep to her word because she really did want to get home.

Lilly had been taken by one of the nurses for her daily weigh in and health check so he decided to go and check the bathroom and see if his wife was okay. He quickly walked down the corridor and placed his hand on the door knob. He knew that it would be unlocked because hospital rules state that _'a patient is not allowed to lock the bathroom door when taking a shower unsupervised unless it is Okayed by a staff nurse or doctor'_ so he twisted the handle and walked into the room.

As soon as he opened the door he saw Melinda lying on the floor with her towel barley covering up her naked frame. He closed the door behind him and bent down to attend to his wife.

"Mel honey are you okay" He whispered as he pulled her onto his lap and stroked her wet hair.

"_Jim." _She replied faintly.

"Yeah it's me I got worried when you didn't come back as soon as you said." Jim said lovingly as he attempted to cover her up more with the towel.

"_Jim he's still here and he wants Lilly."_ Mel said as tears started to fall down her face once more.

"She's fine the nurses took her for the routine check up but you Mel, you are not fine we need to get you dressed and back to bed before the nurses come looking for us both." Jim replied as he attempted to help Mel sit up.

Melinda wiped the tears from her eyes and welcomed the support of Jim's strong frame as she stood herself up from the floor.

"But I didn't finish showering, my hair still has conditioner all over it." Mel added sweetly.

"You could finish now, I needed to take a shower too but we will have to be quick." Jim added playfully.

Mel dropped the towel that Jim had wrapped around her and stepped back into the shower that was still running, Jim followed close behind and the young couple quickly showered together.

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They managed to get back to the bed right on cue because Lillyana was just been carried into the room by one of Melinda's many doctors.

"Ah good you're back and Jim glad to see you took a shower too." The female doctor said with a smile and a small twinkle in her eyes that caused Melinda to blush a little.

"Well Lilly seems to be doing good but I want to keep her in just one more day as she is a small one. How are you feeling today Melinda?" The doctor asked as she placed the sleeping baby in her hospital crib.

"I feel fine and I'm not as tired today." Mel replied, she had no intention of telling the doctor about her incident in the shower because she knew it had nothing to do with her health.

"Good that's good, I'll just take your blood pressure and another blood sample and then I believe you have some visitors." The tall, dark haired doctor said sweetly.

Melinda nodded and smiled, she couldn't wait to see who had come to visit her she needed to talk to someone. Jim was great but she did miss the company of her friends too.

5 minutes passed, the doctor finished scribbling notes on Melinda's chart and then headed off to see her other patients for the day.

"I'll let your visitors know they can come and see you now." She added before she left, her long dark hair flowing behind her.

Soon after Jim's mother and Delia came bounding through the doors carrying balloons and bags of baby clothes, both with huge smiles on their faces. Melinda's own mother followed closely behind with a bag of her own but not nearly as big of a smile.

"Hey Mel, you look great." Delia said as she leant down to give Melinda a hug as Faith gave her son one.

"So where is she then?" They both asked, Beth just sat on a chair by Mel's bed.

"She right here." Jim replied as he picked her up in his arms which caused her to wake.

"Aw she is gorgeous and so small." Delia said as she peered at the baby in his arms.

"Mel you did good honey and I brought you some gifts." Delia added as she handed Mel a bag of goodies and placed the balloon at the side of her bed.

Faith was now looking at her new grandchild her eyes filling with tears.

"She is beautiful just like her mother and Jim she has your eyes." Faith added in awe of the baby.

"Thanks Faith, you can hold her if you want, just put the bags on the end of the bed." Mel said smiling.

Faith did as Melinda asked and placed all of her things on the bed before taking baby Lilly into her arms.

"By the way the stuff in the bags is for you and Lillyana but she will probably have to grow into most of the clothes." Faith added.

"Mom don't you want to see her?" Melinda asked her mother who seemed to be sitting as far away as she could.

"I will soon Mel. I brought her some things and something you had when you were a child to." Beth said as she came to sit nearer Melinda and Delia.

Melinda opened the bag and saw a few baby outfits and a knitted blanket with Lillyana Grace stitched onto it and then in the bottom of the bag she saw an old doll.

"Mom is this…" Mel asked slightly taken aback.

"It's your old doll that you used to take everywhere with you because you were convinced she was your twin." Beth replied sweetly.

"It's gorgeous Mel." Delia added when she saw the doll.

"I thought you could give it to Lillyana when she was older." Beth said.

"Yeah, I will, thanks mom." Mel replied a few tears escaping her eyes as her hormones got the better of her yet again.

An hour or so passed and both Faith and Delia had to leave, Delia had work to go to and Faith was meeting an old friend in town so that just left Beth, Melinda and Jim.

"So mom you wanna hold her now, she's really good, hardly ever cries." Melinda said as she gestured for her mother to take the baby from her arms.

Cautiously Beth took Lillyana into her arms and sat herself back down in the chair, her eyes fixated on the Lilly's the whole time.

"She's going to be beautiful when she grows up." Beth said quietly.

Melinda and Jim just smiled as they watched Beth interact with her granddaughter.

"I won't let Tom hurt her or you." Beth said sternly.

"Mom w..what do you mean?" Melinda asked a little confused.

"I wasn't there for you when you were growing up, not really and I realise that I was wrong now, it's just sad that it has taken the birth of this beautiful baby for me to see it and I'm not going to let anyone take this away from me when I've just found it." Beth said emotionally.

"Mom." Melinda whispered touched by her words.

"Lets see him mess with two ghost whisperers, there is so much your grandma never got to teach you about your gift, what we can do with it and I will teach you so you can teach Lillyana." Beth continued.

"And Jim you need to look after them both, just keep doing what you're doing."

"I will Beth, I promise." Jim replied completely shocked by the events that were taking place.

"Right well I better get going but I'll be around, just call me if you need me." Beth added then handed Lilly back to Mel and left the room with a smile on her face.

"Where did that come from?" Jim asked confused.

"I have no idea but I have a feeling that we are going to be seeing a lot more of my mother." Melinda replied not sure how she felt about the whole thing.

"Yeah, what do you think she meant about your gift Mel?" Jim asked.

"I don't know but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough." Mel replied.

She fed Lilly and then her and Jim lay down and attempted to catch some much needed sleep.

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Thanks for reading, sorry I took so long and **please** **review** if you have the chance. Thanks to everyone who has read and I will be wrapping this story up in a few chapters so I can concentrate on my other fic and possibly start a new one too!!


	32. Chapter 32 The end is near

Hiya everyone sorry I took a while to update but it's here now :) I really hope that those of you who read my stories and wrote your own will update soon because I do enjoy reading a few of them ;). Enjoy.

Chapter 32 The end is near…

Four days had passed since Tom's appearance in the hospital and Melinda had finally spent her first night at home with her new baby and her husband since the birth.

She had been allowed home 2 days later than expected as the doctors seemed to have contradicting views on the health of Lilly, she was perfectly fine according to one doctor, but doctor Jenson wanted to make sure she was at an acceptable weight before allowing Melinda to take her daughter home. Yesterday had been that day.

It had been a pretty hectic night for the young couple as they took it in turns to answer the cries of their new born in the middle of the night and through to the early hours of the morning, leaving both Melinda and Jim completely shattered by the time morning came around but because Lilly was asleep, so were they.

Luckily Melinda's mother had arranged a visit for later on and Melinda was hoping that Beth could watch Lilly for a few hours whilst she and Jim caught up on some much needed sleep. Melinda had known that having a child would be hard work and was willing to embrace all the duties that motherhood came with, however it was always made that little more difficult when ghosts decided to rear their ugly heads into situations where they were really not appreciated.

The door bell rang, its sound echoing through the halls of the Clancy household causing a very tired Melinda to arouse from her sleep.

Jim was still conked out on the bed snoring, it would take a bulldozer to wake him Mel thought as she quickly pulled on her dressing gown and headed down the stairs to answer the door. Lilly had only just fallen back asleep and Melinda really didn't need her to wake up again, not right now.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Mel said as she rushed down the stairs to open the front door.

Melinda opened the door and was greeted by the presence of her mother, a beaming smile plastered across her features.

"Mom, you're… early." Mel said as she attempted to suppress a yawn.

"Ah yes well I figured you wouldn't have gotten much sleep and thought you might like me to watch Lilly for a while so you and Jim could catch up." Beth replied as if she had read Mel's mind.

"Yeah that would be great, she's in her crib sleeping right now but you could bring her downstairs and set her in the crib over there." Mel said pointing to another crib in the living room, by the sofa.

"Okay, now you get yourself back to bed Melinda, you'll need all the sleep you can get with this little one if she is anything like you were." Beth joked.

Mel gave her mom a slightly bemused smile then headed back up the stairs to join her husband in bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow she basked in the comfort that it offered her and before long she was too fast asleep.

Downstairs Beth was in the kitchen cooking up some kind of stew for lunch, when Melinda woke up she would need something good to eat and so now was the perfect time to start cooking. Lillyana was still sleeping peacefully in the living room cot with Beth checking on her every 5 minutes just in case. Tom hadn't been spotted by any of the ghost whisperers yet but Beth had this feeling that it wasn't going to be long before they found out what his master plan was.

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Whilst everything was running smoothly down stairs, Melinda was sleeping less than peacefully up in the bedroom, her dreams disturbed by an unwelcome spirit intent on terrorising her any moment he could. Dreams were the one place he knew that she was unable to escape, the one place where no one would hear her scream.

_Dream_

_Melinda was in the underground again, a place that she had promised both Jim and herself that she would not go again unless something dire was going to happen. Being back there sent a shiver down Melinda's spine._

_Suddenly she appeared in front of the church, the church she had been warned to stay away from the last time she had been there. She could hear the voices of the spirits, she could even smell the damp and mould that lingered in the air, it didn't feel like a dream to her it felt like a reality in which she had no control over her body._

_Unable to stop herself she pushed open the doors to the old church and walked inside, fear so strong that a wave of nausea swept over her entire body causing her to pause for a second. _

_She walked to the front of the altar and was startled by a bloodcurdling scream coming from above. The next thing she saw were a pair of empty, dark eyes and then everything went black._

Melinda sat bolt upright in bed breathing heavily, tears streaming down her face as she fought to hold them in.

"Mel, what happened, are you okay?" Jim asked as soon as he noticed Melinda's state.

"I.. he.. it was dark… he's coming back Jim." Melinda sobbed as she spoke in incoherent sentences.

"Shhh, it'll be okay, it was just a dream Mel, shhh." Jim whispered comforting words to his wife but he wasn't so convinced that everything_ would_ be okay this time.

After about 15 minutes Melinda had fallen asleep again in Jim's arms, she was completely exhausted after the events of the past week so Jim set her carefully back down onto the bed, covered her up and then went down stairs to see his daughter and mother-in-law. He had only assumed it was Beth downstairs when he heard the clattering around in the kitchen followed by a woman's voice talking to someone who didn't seem to be talking back, this could only be the conversation of another ghost whisperer.

He headed toward the living room and found Beth standing by the crib peering in to make sure Lilly was okay. The delicious smell of food filled the air and Jim inhaled deeply before taking the few steps to his daughter and mother-in-law.

"Something smells good." Jim commented.

"Oh thanks I'm just making some stew for lunch, thought Melinda would need something good to eat after all the stress." Beth replied as she turned to face Jim.

"Is she still sleeping?" Jim asked and gestured toward his new daughter.

"Yeah she's good but I think she will need a bottle soon so we might have to wake her." Beth added.

Jim just nodded and went to take a seat on the sofa then stared absently around the room, Beth could see that he had something on his mind.

"Jim what's bothering you?" She asked simply.

Jim waited a few seconds before answering then he inhaled sharply and proceeded to speak.

"Melinda, she had another dream about Tom I think, something is going to happen, I can feel it and I know that Mel definitely can." Jim said worried.

"You're right." Beth replied simply, she couldn't hide what she knew from Jim, he would guess.

"We need to prepare ourselves for something big, I had a dream last night too and Tom is coming back and he has a plan, I need to teach Melinda the one thing my mother never had a chance to show her before the eclipse next week." Beth finished completely seriously.

"What are you talking about Beth?" Jim asked now confused and fearful for his wife.

"You'll see, I'll explain lately but now you need to go and feed your daughter, she just woke up." Beth said.

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Sorry I took like forever to update….. I suck I know but I lost my inspiration. Hope you enjoyed it and I promise the next 2 chapter will be big ones, it will be a big finale. Please review if you have a minute.


	33. Chapter 33 The missing piece

Hey guys sorry I took so long to update and sorry that it is a pretty short chapter, the last few are going to be pretty action packed!!

Chapter 33 The missing piece

Melinda stood in front of her mother waiting for the news of a lifetime and it literally would be. Her whole life Melinda had felt like she was missing something, that a piece of this whole ghost puzzle didn't fit, and now in this moment she was about to find out, and in the least ideal circumstances possible.

"Okay Mel are you ready for this?" Beth said as she gestured for her daughter to take a seat.

"Mom I don't know what it is so I can't tell you if I'm going to take the news well, I do know that I am ready to hear it though." Mel replied and took a seat opposite her mother.

"Melinda as you know you have a gift, you are able to see and talk to earthbound spirits like me and your grandmother and many of our ancestors." Beth started simply and calmly.

Melinda nodded and held her hands together nervously.

"We were told by our ancestors that you were a special child, that your gift would go further than any other woman in the Gordon line and that you would be able to do special things, dangerous things." Beth continued, her hands were now trembling with pure emotion.

"Mom what is it?" Mel asked a little worried.

"Melinda you don't just have the power to see the dead, if you use your power properly, if you concentrate really hard you can manipulate life and death. Your soul has the power to bring back others from the dead." Beth finished sounding scared by her own words.

"W-what, but how, w-why how… this can't be right." Melinda replied, she didn't know what to say, she had lost so many people in her life, seen so many things and to find out now that she could have helped people by not just helping then come to terms with the death of a loved one but by bringing that person back to them made her heart ache.

"Mom I could have saved Andrea, I could have helped so many people if you'd have just told me before." Mel said emotionally.

"Melinda, you need to listen there is a price to pay, every time you use this gift you bring yourself and the people you help closer to death, if it isn't used properly bad things can happen, the whole spirit world will be tipped on it's head and you will end up circling the drain." Beth said cautiously.

"Why are you telling me about this now, I don't understand?" Mel replied emotional and confused.

"Because Melinda, Tom knows about you're gift that's why he wanted you when you were a baby and that's why he wants you now, he knows that by going after Lilly you are more likely to come to him willingly, but you can use this gift to stop him." Beth replied.

Melinda was completely overwhelmed by the load of information her mother had told her and stood up to walk out of the room when the it started to spin, luckily Jim noticed the change in his wife's expression and bolted to her from the corner of the room just in time to catch her as she blacked out.

"_Hello, hello where am I." Melinda asked as she looked around the darkness. There was nothing, no people, no scenery, no sound apart from her own voice, nothing._

"_Hello." Melinda called again, her voice more alarmed now as she began to realise she was no longer in the safety of her living room._

_All of a sudden she heard a shrill laugh that could only be Tom's echoing in the darkness and then a woman in a white dress appeared before her. When Mel looked closer she could see that the woman was none other than her friend Andrea._

"_Oh my gosh." Mel said quietly not quite sure what to make of the whole situation. Andrea just stood before her with a very solemn expression on her face. _

"_Melinda I know you are confused but I don't have time to explain it, you need to go back, you just need to know that you can't use your gift to save me, not now there is to much of a risk….." Andrea said and then everything started to slowly fade back into reality._

"Mel, Melinda can you hear me honey." Jim whispered as he held her and stroked her hair gently.

Melinda slowly opened her eyes and looked straight at Jim, completely confused.

"Mel say something." Jim said this time a little more worried.

"W..what happened?" Melinda asked still dazed from her mini vision.

"You blacked out when you found out about the gift, I think it was all too much for you to take in right now with Tom flying about and the lack of sleep that comes with new parenthood." Jim said sweetly as he helped Mel onto the sofa.

"Jim I saw Andrea." Mel said softly with a tear in her eye.

Jim smiled at his wife and pulled her into a warm embrace for a few minutes until they were disturbed by the cries of their baby daughter.

"That would be her hungry cry, do you want to feed her or shall I?" Jim asked Mel.

"Could you bring her to me?" Mel asked sweetly as she pulled herself in a sitting position.

"Of course I can honey." Jim replied then walked over to Lillyana's crib and scooped the tiny bundle into his arms.

"There you go, off to mommy." Jim whispered as he handed Lilly to Mel and smiled at the pair.

"Jim could you go and talk to my mom, see if she's okay whilst I feed this beautiful thing." Mel asked.

"Sure I can have fun you two." Jim added then kissed both Mel and Lilly on the head before heading to the kitchen.

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Hope you enjoyed this brief chapter and if you need anything clearing up about the gift just put it in the reviews and I will try and clear it up for you. Thanks.


	34. Chapter 34 The beginning of the end

Hey people thanks again for all the reviews they are brilliant and thanks for reading sooooooo far along I think this will be the second to last chapter. This is going to be a bit of a weird one and I really mean that we are near the end now, sorry guys :-( but I will keep writing other stories. Enjoy!!

Chapter 34 The beginning of the end

There wasn't much time left, Melinda knew that as she saw the dark clouds pass across the square ready to bring the most heinous storm that Grandview had seen in a very long time, and that's all it looked like to people who didn't know better, to people that weren't Melinda.

Tom had been planning his rising ever since his attempt to take the baby had failed when his partner had been arrested, an angle he never saw coming but this time he wouldn't fail. Melinda would use her gift to bring him back when she saw what he could do, when she saw who was in danger she had to.

The thunder began to crash and Melinda sped up her pace pushing the stroller toward the store as quickly as her legs would allow, she knew that she wouldn't be completely safe in there but she would at least be out of the rain with Lilly and Jim would know where to find them.

He was still at work which worried her, ever since the accident a couple of years ago she worried about Jim in the ambulance more than usual and with a storm bringing the bad weather, and Tom floating around she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, so much so that she wanted to call him and make him go home now.

Lillyana began to cry as lightning struck and the first droplet of rain crashed to the ground, at just 2 weeks old Lilly could already sense the dark spirits that plagued the family and Melinda knew that this was why her usually quiet daughter was balling her eyes out.

"It's okay sweetie we're almost at the store." Mel comforted as she dashed across the last stretch of pavement before they were at her store. With the door closed firmly behind her she leant against one of the pillars and placed a hand on her heart to try and stop it from pounding.

Lilly was still crying so Melinda took her into her arms and cradled her lovingly, looking all around the room scouring for any spirits that may be lurking in the corner. Delia was in back and came up front as soon as she heard the baby crying.

"Melinda I thought it was you, I recognised the cry is everything alright?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah, well no I think Tom is making his big comeback and the storm is really bad, I can't walk Lilly home in this and Jim is still at work." Mel replied a little worried.

"Okay well I doubt we will be getting many customers in this weather so I'm going to close shop and you should call Jim, go round back now with Lilly." Delia answered.

"Right, I'll call Jim." Mel replied then headed round with Lilly safely wrapped up in the stroller.

Mel picked up the phone and began dialling Jim's cell when something caught the corner of her eye.

"Tom I know you're here, come out I'm not afraid of you." She lied.

There was a high pitched scream and then Tom appeared before her looking stronger than ever before.

"Ah Melinda I knew you would come, how is that wonderful daughter of yours doing?" Tom asked evilly before appearing behind Melinda and staring directly at her baby.

"You leave her alone." Melinda said extremely protectively, she wasn't going to let anyone mess with her baby.

"Oh Melinda all in good time, I have to wait, I have to get you first then the baby." Tom said casually like he was talking about obtaining a simple object.

"Leave me alone, you are not taking my baby and you are not getting me, you're dead there is nothing you can do." Melinda said harshly.

"I wont be for long, you can make sure of that and I will make sure that you can't refuse." Tom replied then disappeared, leaving Mel scared and confused.

Melinda started to shake, she really needed to call Jim now, what if he was planning to hurt Jim, what if he had already done something?

She picked up the phone and redialled Jim's cell into the phone again, her free hand shaking as she did, the other clutching Lilly safely.

"Please pick up, please pick up." She muttered to herself as she heard the dull ringing down the phone.

A sickening feeling formed in the pit of her stomach, her legs felt like jelly and she was trembling, had she not been sitting down she was sure that she would have fainted.

Just as she was about to give up, put the receiver down and probably throw her lunch up into the nearest inanimate object Jim picked up, he answered the phone.

"_Hey, Clancy speaking."_

"Jim, oh I'm so glad you answered, you're okay?" Mel said he voice shaking as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"_Yeah I'm fine honey, what's wrong?"_ Jim replied able to read Melinda like a book and feeling instantly concerned.

"Can you come to the store, you need to come home Jim." Mel said no in tears.

"_Alright I'll be there in 5 minutes are you okay, is Lilly okay?"_ He asked on last time.

"We're fine I just need to see your face." She replied emotionally.

"_I'm on my way."_ Jim replied then put the phone down so he could make his way over to his wife and child, he had no idea why she was so upset but he knew that if she needed him he had to go to her.

Jim true to his word appeared in the back of the shop no longer than 5 minutes after he had hung up the phone, a worried expression on his face.

"Hey Mel what's up, where's Delia?" Jim said as he walked over to his wife.

"W…what do you mean, she was just out front closing up." Mel replied shakily.

"She isn't there now." Jim replied, he too sounded worried now.

"She's not here, what do you mean… where is she, she would have told me if she was leaving." Mel said quickly trembling as she did.

Jim took Lillyana from Mel and placed her gently in her stroller pushing it back and forth in a rocking motion to try and calm the crying baby and hopefully put her to sleep through all of the chaos.

"It's okay we'll find her Mel." Jim said as he pushed Lilly's stroller closer to Mel and pulled her into a tight embrace, the place she felt most safe no matter what.

"Jim what if it's Tom, he-he said that he needed wanted me to bring him back from the dead and that I would do it willingly, what if this is his big plan?" Mel said, her eyes wide with fear.

"What do you mean honey?" Jim asked confused.

"Jim he's slowly picking off the people I love until I have no one left and no other choice but to help him in exchange, this is his big plan, this is how he is going to come back from the dead, and this is how he is going to take Lilly." Mel said, tears falling from her eyes for the second time that day.

"Mel you know I am not going to let that happen, I'm not going anywhere and we can beat this together, me, you and your mother; Tom wont stand a chance." Jim said encouragingly, he was so determined to keep his family safe that he would do anything.

"Mel call your mom and ask her to come to the store, call up Ned and get him to come here to and Rick, we'll need to keep everyone together and they could all be of some help. I'm going to search the store for Delia again, she can't have gotten far, he can't make people disappear." Jim stated rationally then pushed the stroller out front again to look for Delia.

A couple of minutes passed and Melinda had finished calling everyone on the list receiving answers from everyone, this gave her some confidence that Tom definitely hadn't thought out the logistics of his plan quite yet.

Jim came back around to where Melinda was and took a seat next to her.

"You called everyone?" He asked lovingly.

"Yeah, they are on their way, my mom thinks she might be able to help." Mel replied, worry still evident in her voice.

"Delia isn't out front but I did find a note," He added handing Mel the slip of paper that he had found by the cash register.

Melinda opened the note and read it aloud.

_Mel sorry I had to disappear so suddenly but I just got a phone call from one of my relatives, they have been in an accident and I need to go see them. Could you and Jim take care of Ned until I return, don't worry about me I will be fine. _

_Delia x_

Once she had finished reading the note she looked at Jim for his opinion.

"What do you think, something seems… off." Mel stated simply not sure of what to think of the note.

"I'm not sure, she would have told you she was leaving, she would have called Ned wouldn't she?" Jim said, half asking half stating.

"I'm not sure, we will have to wait until everyone gets here then we can sort everything out, Tom wont get to me that easily." Mel replied feeling like she had to face up to the facts, she could beat Tom, she had to.

"Okay honey and I promise you we will find a way to send him away, no matter what." Jim stated confidently then went to sit with his wife and daughter, the young family waiting in anticipation of what was yet to come.

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Sorry I took a while to update but I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be full of action and hopefully conclude this story. If you have time feel free to review and thank you very much for taking the time to read.


	35. Chapter 35 A blinding light

Okay guys this is it, I have finally reached the end of this story so I want to thank you all for reading the whole thing, I really appreciate all the reviews that people submitted and will continue to post more stories onto the site as long as people want them. Enjoy the conclusion.

Chapter 35 A blinding light

It was almost time for Melinda to face her worst nightmare, she knew it was going to be tough, she knew that Tom was going to make it as difficult as possible for her to refrain from using her new found gift but she had to try.

Lillyana had been left with Jim, Ned and Rick in the basement of same as it never was with the storm billowing outside she didn't want to risk taking the baby outside again and she didn't want to risk any of her loved ones attempting to travel home, there were just too many opportunities for accidents and Tom would take full advantage if he could.

Beth Gordon was stood by her daughters side looking about as worried as Melinda felt inside but Mel was keeping a calm expression on her face, it was the only thing she could do to stop her from going insane. Delia was still missing and Melinda knew that it was up to her and her mother to stop Tom and find Delia before it was too late.

"Mom you ready to go?" Melinda asked as they stood at the entrance to the Grandview tunnels.

Beth nodded apprehensively and then followed Melinda into the darkness underground where Tom and his army of evil spirits awaited them. As the pair walked further into the depths of Grandview's hidden town the flashlights in their hands began to dim, and it wasn't because they had flat batteries.

"Melinda this isn't right, we shouldn't be down here." Beth said scared.

"Mom I know but I have to do this to save my friends and my family, he wants me so he's gonna get me." Mel replied with determination.

They proceeded further along until they came to the centre of the old town, the place Melinda had been once before, faced with those horrific red eyes. This was now Tom's place of residence and just the idea that she was going to have to go back into that church was bone tingling.

"OKAY I'M HERE, I'M READY TO TALK!" Melinda shouted openly.

Nothing happened, not even the smallest movement or sound from any of the spirits that Melinda knew were trapped down there.

"TOM I CAME HERE FOR YOU COME OUT!" Melinda cried again she was extremely pissed off.

Still nothing and Melinda's patience was wearing thin, there was also an eerie chill in the air, something wasn't right.

"Melinda maybe we should get out of here." Beth said as a small piece of clay fell from the roof of the church.

Melinda looked at her mother then up at the roof and then back at her mother again.

"RUN!" She called and set off from the church as the roof began to crumble and fall.

The pair ran as fast as they could out of the church and then the rest of the tunnels seemed to crumble behind them, this had been Tom's plan all along but he couldn't kill her, he couldn't use her gift if she was dead right?

"Mom you gotta get out of here it's me Tom wants and I have to face him." Mel stated as Tom flashed in front of them both, a devilish smile on his face.

"No Melinda I'm not leaving you, not now, not again." She stated passionately, seriously, but fear was evident in her voice.

"You have to, he won't kill me, not until he gets what he wants please go, and tell Jim that I love him." Mel said emotionally but seriously at her mother.

"Okay Melinda but please be careful." She said then turned to walk away leaving her daughter standing in the midst of the underground awaiting to face a being of pure evil.

It took a few minutes for Melinda's mother to completely vacate the tunnels and then the crumbling stopped, followed by the appearance of a much stronger looking Tom.

"What the hell do you want from me?" Melinda spat.

"I told you I want you to use your gift to bring me back to life, I want to use your gift so that the dead can truly walk amongst the living once more." Tom said eerily.

"I'm not going to do that, I won't bring you back and I won't put myself in danger to do it, not this time." She replied.

"Well let's see if this changes your mind." Tom said simply and then began to laugh as the spirits of both Delia and Andrea appeared beside Tom, it was as if they were bound to him.

"Oh my gosh." Melinda gasped as she saw her friends, her two best friends stood beside her worst enemy, trapped under his power and it was her fault.

"You know what I want, bring me to life and they will be free or I could just take everyone else you love too." Tom laughed.

Melinda paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, if her gift truly could bring spirits back from the dead then why would she bring back Tom, she could use her gift to bring back those that she loved, Andrea and Delia, the people who were taken too early because they knew her. She knew that Andrea had warned her not to use her gift, she had been told that it could weaken her but she had to try.

Melinda pulled herself from her thoughts and lifted her head to stare directly into Tom's dark, empty eyes.

"Well." He said expectantly.

Melinda started to laugh now, "Tom there is one flaw in this perfectly calculated plan, you see you didn't account for the possibility that I might not bring you back from the dead, that I might be willing to take a risk, you see I thought about it and why would I bring you back when I could save my friends" Mel said then shut her eyes tight.

This was it, the moment she would use her new found gift for the first and only time. Her eyes were closed tightly as she envisioned her friends stood right next to her, talking to her, actually been able to make physical contact with them, then she focused on the memories the times they spent together before they were taken from her. Then in a flash something started to happen.

Tom disappeared, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of his scream of defeat. Melinda's eyes began to flicker as the lives of her two friends began to play out in front of her eyes, she could see everything, the tears, the laughter, the fear. Everything.

She fell to the ground as beams of light came from her body and encircled Andrea and Delia pulling their spirits to the ground and then everything went dark.

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(At the hospital)

"Jim I'm so fine honestly." Melinda said as she sat on the end of the hospital bed pleading with her husband to take her home.

"I know you say you're fine Mel but the doctor said you should stay one more night, just to make sure." Jim replied sweetly.

"You know I'm fine I've been here for three days, I miss Lilly and I want to see Andrea and Delia, I can't believe it worked." She said excitedly.

"Okay but any sign of dizziness or an-" Jim was cut of mid-sentence by Melinda diving at him and placing a soft, sensual kiss on his lips.

"I love you Jim, so much." She said sweetly.

"I love you too now let's get you home." He replied then helped her off the bed so he could drive her home.

In the days that passed Melinda explained everything to Andrea, how she had been dead, how the plane accident killed her and how no one had any recollection of her dying except Jim, Beth, Rick and Ned, all the people that were in the store when the gift was used.

Delia didn't remember dying either but didn't want to know anything, she was quite happy being in the dark as long as she was alive and well now to spend time with her son.

Everyone was fine, and for the first time in a while Melinda was truly happy, she had a fantastic husband, a beautiful daughter and her relationship with her mother was better than it had ever been and the best part, no evil spirits were lingering around, Melinda could enjoy the little things in life in peace. Well almost...

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Okay so that's it, the end of the story I really hope you enjoyed it, thank you sooooo much for reading to the end and reviewing too it was appreciated greatly. I have started a new fic but I will be concentrating on before the show so it won't be posted for a while. Let me know what you thought of the end. xxx


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